My custom made salento socks story

A friend took a photo of me in Valle de Cocora, Salento, Colombia (I'm behind the black dot haha).

I had an idea for a sock design so I used DALL-E to see if I could edit that image.

I found freelance sock designer to turn that image into something sock friendly.

Months later, I met a friend who has their own sock company and they made me the sock as a gift.

This is was just one of the cool things that resulted from my decision to travel into the unknown (to be honest, probably the coolest thing).

Hope it's an encouragement to trust the creative process.

Worthwhile experience

When making decisions, instead of asking:

Is this something I want to do for the rest of my life?

Consider asking:

Does this seem like a worthwhile experience?

Travelling into the unknown

Around this time last year, I had just finished up my time at my previous job and was 2 weeks away from an adventure to South America.

I had 6 weeks of my first solo travel trip loosely planned and no plan for the foreseeable future. So, it's safe to say I was nervous!

I ended up extending my plans while in Colombia and in total had 3.5 months overseas.

During that I time, I also:

• went from tired to rested
• journaled heaps
• learnt a tonne of Spanish (the learning journey quietly continues)
• began creating my own custom sock

Cool right?! Here's what happened next.

I returned back home and, without much cash, moved in with my parents. I still didn't know my next steps but I had spare time and a desire to try another quiet dream of mine - movement training - so I gave that a go while looking for job direction.

To my surprise, I ended up finding a really good job for me and, right now, I'm writing to you after a good day's work.

The way I'm writing this out, it can seem like everything went perfectly, but that's not true. In particular it was a challenge to manage the feeling of uncertainty.

I remember one night, I was feeling the weight of the unknown while writing a cold email from a small town in Chile. The recipient was someone I had heard speak on a podcast about the great benefits of taking sabbaticals and going into the unknown. I asked for advice on how I could find out what was next for me.

Wildly, he replied 15 minutes later.

He said it's hard to give general advice, but

my general advice would be to take your time, follow your interests, optimize for what gives you energy, trust the process, have faith it will all work out, try to see things as happening for you (rather than to you), be selective, experiment prolifically, take persistent relentless action, and ignore whichever of these points do not most resonate with you in favor of those that do.

Addressing dislikes

An unexpected approach to enjoying life can come by asking:

What do I dislike, and how can I decrease that?

Here are a few things I dislike and some potential solutions:

Being tired

• Go to bed between 9:00-10:30pm.
• Take advantages of opportunities to sleep in when I work from home.
• Say no to late-night events where possible.

Being alone too much

• Be in social environments more often. For instance, I plan to workout with a friend more often instead of exercising alone.

Driving for more than one hour a day

• Drive friends around less often

Excessive phone checking

• To start, focus on tracking phone usage to be aware of the extent of the problem. I'll take tangible steps further down the track.

While addressing dislikes on its own won't lead to a fulfilling life, it can be a nice supplemental approach for lifestyle design.

Goals are hypotheses

I recently read a surprisingly good post on LinkedIn on the topic of goals.

Thiago Forte says it better than I do so I'll just quote it.

Goals aren't promises, they're hypotheses.

Not reaching a goal can be just as valuable as reaching it, just as disproving a hypothesis is as valuable as proving it.

The purpose of a goal is to maximise your learning, not commit to a predetermined outcome.

Goodbye intense movement training

After about 5 months of training 4-5 times per week under a movement trainer's monthly programming, I'm leaving.

It's in these moments of transition that I can wonder whether I'm spiralling away from my goals, which begs the question - what was my goal here?

I'll tell you, it was to experience what's it like to be exploring this training style and I've achieved that.

Plus, a bunch of good stuff has come from, and continues to come from, training over those 5 months. I've broken through plateaus and limitations in the goals I set for myself and more.

On top of that, the way I exercise now, although less regularly, continues in a style that is heavily influenced by the programming style I received. I'm quietly confident that it's these effects that'll benefit me years down the track as small tweaks now in how I train 2 hours per week can go a long way. I'll write more on what aspects of the programming stay with me another time.

In summary, I consider this exploration a worthwhile venture.

Maintaining is enough

When I don't have the will to keep improving a skill, I just maintain it.

Maintaining isn't very exciting and it still takes some time but it comes with a sense of ease.

Then, in quiet consistency, something good can happen.

Just maintaining ends up in improvement.

Journal to blog

I’ve recently been appreciating how journaling is the foundational practice that lies behind this blog.

I remember my first blog three years ago. It was unexpectedly so challenging for me to write anything. My first post was one paragraph long and after posting it, I returned to it five times that same week to edit it. All for one paragraph!

This time around, I blog within the context of journaling and wow has it been easier. Here's two reasons why:

• Journaling gives me a space to write that is just for me. This lets me write freely, openly and badly without hesitation. Then boom, those deep laden writing muscles deep in the brain get stronger and I come out more confident in my ability to put words on a page.

• The first drafts of blog posts often begin from a journal entry. Starting from a first draft, all it takes is some additions and edits. Then boom, a nice looking post emerges.

PS. Here's how I journal

Imperfect beginnings

I first started learning Spanish through cheap online classes on Preply. They weren't where I learnt the most of what I know now, but those classes were what got me started. From there I found other ways to learn more effectively.

Imperfect beginnings are powerful.

How I journal

I've always enjoyed hearing how people journal. So with the hope of sharing a bit of joy, here's my approach:

1. Open laptop

2. Open Obsidian and click button that says: Open today's daily note

   An inviting blank page pops up with the title being today's date.

3. Write whatever comes to mind

   I'm often describing recent events, exploring solutions to problems or just reflecting on the edge of where my thoughts can go.

   Looking back over the past 4 months, I'm writing about 8 times per month and each note is about 100-600 words.

   When I write in a daily note more than once during the day, I insert a horizontal line.

I'm quite happy with how easy it is to begin writing under this approach. It's just a few clicks and I'm typing away. This lets me write more than I would otherwise which ends up resulting in future blog posts. Woo!

How do you journal? Feel free to let me know at hi@blogofdrew.com

My experience with movement training

For the past 5 months I've been following a "movement" training programme from a 3rd generation student of Ido Portal.

Programme structure

My weekly programme has looked something like:

• 2 strength days
• 2 handstand and mobility days
• 1 locomotion day

Without listing out the actual programme (but let me know if you're keen to see it), the structure has looked like:

• six exercises, 3 sets, 1-10 reps - following a superset structure with rests inbetween (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2).
• a new programme each month
• the first week of every month, I record myself for my trainer to see and my form reviewed

I'm going to share my reflections on the good and the bad of the process - let's go!

The good

• training well selected exercises 5 times per week gets epic results. I've never felt stronger.
• recording and editing myself quickly and without caring what others think is a skill like any other and improves with practice.
• having a variety of goals means that something is always progressing which reduces the frustration around areas that aren't progressing. My strength and locomotion has improved very steadily while my ability to balance a handstand has only slightly improved.
• it's super nice to receive a programme and only have to focus on doing it. I can overthink when it comes to programming so I've gotten a lot of value from not having to think about that aspect.
• small pieces of feedback or the giving of a progression can be just the thing to progress me. It could be something like "I think you can lift more weight here" or "You can pull this movement off, keep trying and next time see if you can focus on doing X" or just encouragement "this is good, yes, very good"
• locomotion is a very cool, mentally challenging and underrated form of exercise. Doing locomotion once per week has been a nice dosage. It's enough to quietly improve without feeling overwhelmed by sucking at it haha. I'm starting to have a few patterns in my repertoire that I can improvise with which has been a cool experience of flow. I also notice the feeling of not just getting a full body workout but improving my body's ability to move in a connected way.
• exercise selection goes a long way - weighted chin ups, ring dips, pistol squats, pike push ups - these have all been exercises I wouldn't have done regularly had a not received a programme with them and now I view them as essentials.

The bad

• the price is high for not a lot of input from the trainer's side as everything is pre-recorded by them.
• training 5 times per week can be lonely.
• my trainer isn't a fan of giving programmes that are less than 5 times per week which isn't sustainable for me in the long run so our relationship will have an end date.

Summary

Overall, although this training approach isn't something I will continue with in the long run, it's been worth it because I'm exposed to new skills and how to programme for myself in the future.

Give me a word

Here's a story about seeking truth that I read in a book called To Know As We Are Known by Parker Palmer.

Some brothers… went to see Abba Felix and they begged him to say a word to them. But the old man kept silence. After they had asked for a long time he said to them, “You wish to hear a word?” They said, “Yes, abba.” Then the old man said to them, “There are no more words nowadays. When the brothers used to consult the old men and when they did what was said to them, God showed them how to speak. But now, since they ask without doing that which they hear, God has withdrawn the grace of the word from the old men and they do not find anything to say, since there are no longer any who carry their words out.” Hearing this, the brothers groaned, saying, “Pray for us, abba.”

This story reminds me that seeking truth isn't as simple as reading something new. Ironically, sometimes giving up reading can be more recalibrating than more of it. There's been times where this has been the case for me and I notice a need for different truth bearing practices. Overall, it's wise to discern what's good with the help of others like Abba Felix.

On a very practical level, I broaden my openness to truth by:

• asking trusted people for another perspective on situations
• not assuming that a book or any piece of new information is the solution to my problem, or being open to reading multiple times
• writing as a way of wrestling and developing with the words I already have
• considering the truth prompting effects of non-verbal experiences like a walk in the park, commitment to intense exercise, travel, staying in one place, being with others, creating something, the list goes on.

How to have a language exchange

In one year, I had well over 100 calls in Spanish.

My goal with learning Spanish from the start has been focused on being able to have a spoken conversation. To achieve this, I needed to find people to practice speaking with. Go figure! So I began using an language exchange application called Hellotalk. Here’s how I approached it.

1. Build a strong profile.

Similar to online dating, the interest you get from others is dependent on the strength of your profile. As a starting point, you should have a profile picture of you and a bio in your target language. My bio looked something like:

“Hey, I’m Drew. *emoji*
I like *insert hobbies*.
I’d like to improve my conversational Spanish.
If you’d like to practice with me through calls, don’t hesitate to write to me! *emoji*”

For more visibility, regularly post moments (status updates).

2. Chat enough to transition to a call.

The goal of written conversation is to see if you get along enough to have a call. So just have a chat and see if it flows. After some exchange, put the question of practicing through a call out there. Some people will never be comfortable with a call and that’s fine. It’s better to know after the first conversation than after the 10th.

3. Set up a calling schedule.

You call someone and it goes well, great!

From here, I suggest setting up a schedule to call with a strict structure. For example, calling for one hour per week with half completely in Spanish and half in English. Once a schedule is set up, you can start getting hours of practice in.

Some other things: Whatsapp has better audio. Video calls are more fun but not necessary. Having google translate at the ready is very helpful.

Tip 1: The smaller the time difference, the easier to schedule.

Time difference can be a problem for organising calls leaving only the weekends open. To mitigate this, consider connecting to people in similar time zones. It’s highly likely that there are foreigners living near you that have basic English and are learning.

Tip 2: Practice with someone at a similar level to you.

I’ve met a few people with advanced English that just can’t help but only speak English. I’ve also met people that speak so little English that they’re too nervous to practice with what they know. Out of the two, someone that speaks little English is better. However in my experience, finding a partner with a similar level and a clear learning goal to works best.

No perfect moment

When it comes to starting, there's no perfect moment.

Perfection is a myth of the mind.

There's only the present moment - quietly available and full of possibility.

So don't wait. It won't give you any brownie points. Get after it.

I found job direction through calling friends

A while ago I quit and job and went travelling. Before I knew it, I was back home, living with my parents and keen to get into the workforce once more. The only problem was that I’m wasn't sure on what kind of work I want to do.

To help me discern what work could be a good fit, I did the following:

1. Hopped on LinkedIn.

2. Scrolled through all my connections. If any connections had jobs that looked interesting that I could pivot into, I opened their profile in a new tab.

3. From all of the new tabs I opened, I looked through the profiles more closely and a few people that I knew well that I wanted to reach out to.

4. I sent messages on LinkedIn (or Facebook if possible) asking for a quick 30 minute call to hear their perspective on their work.

That’s it. I had 6 calls in total and it was s honestly so helpful. Each call revealed something a little different and I noticed that some people are definitely more intelligent and insightful than others so it’s worth persisting to have those conversations.

I found it psychologically difficult to initiate these chats because part of me felt like I was showing weakness in saying that I’m not sure about my career direction and I would like help. But I’m so glad I faced that fear and reached out anyway. People are nicer than I thought and I've ended up in a new job in a new area that's just right for me.

Try two options

When I’m trying something new for the first time, I like to try two options.

It takes a little more effort to start with, but it’s well worth it.

I’ve done this with my Spanish learning. I tried two applications for language exchanges, two Spanish teachers, and two journaling websites. After a few days, the better one becomes evident, and I just continue with one.

Of course, it’s always possible to try more than two options, but for day-to-day decisions, I’m happy with two.

Grateful to be learning Spanish as an adult

Everyone is my family is fluent in Spanish except for me.

What? How?

My family lived in South America for many years and then moved to Gringo-landia when I was very young. By virtue of being the youngest, I forgot about the mother tongue.

I used to think I was the unlucky one. Left without Spanish.

But now, I’m grateful for it.

For over a year now, I’ve been on a language learning journey. Looking back on what I’ve learnt, a key meta-skill stands out: Language learning isn’t just learning content, it’s learning how to learn. This skill doesn’t come easy. It takes trial and error, persistence and creativity. It’s been a wild and rewarding journey that continues to this day.

So, I’m grateful.

Boomerang desires

Here's a concept I've found helpful when thinking about vocation - boomerang desires. Boomerang desires are desires that can be thrown out only to see them faithfully return.

Finding a boomerang desire begins with the throw. To use a personal example, I’ve had the goal of balancing a handstand before. But circumstances in the past led me away from it. My strategy wasn’t effective and I had other interests consuming my time. So I threw the goal away and let it out of my grasp, perhaps never to return.

Then comes the return. About a year later, my context has changed and I’ve noticed an increasing desire to pursue the handstand again. It’s almost as if, in some way, instead of me choosing the goal, the goal is choosing me.

I think this is why some like to describe vocation as calling.