I took some time recently to reflect on the three things I find most annoying about myself at the moment. It’s a useful exercise to revisit periodically. My current list is:
(1) Letting people finish their thought instead of letting excitement or impatience get the better of me. This is a long-term project. It’s the dark side of a strength: a bias for action. The balance is tricky, but I’ve made some recent progress in my own self-awareness around it, and that gives me hope.
(2) Removing “like” and other filler words has been an on-and-off project for years, and it’s been consistently on my mind this past year. My awareness here isn’t consistent yet, and that’s usually the first step.
(3) Changing my relationship with my phone entirely. I wrote about this recently and my effort to simplify how I use the internet. I’m testing a few things and I’m excited about testing leaving the phone in one room of the house after work, so I get used to not having it on me. I’m hopeful it continues.
As with most things like this, noticing isn’t enough. I’ve made some commitments and added this to my weekly review. I’m hoping to be annoyed by different problems twelve months from now.
More to follow.
