The Skills I want to cultivate right now: piano and deutsch
I feel so scattered in my interests and hobbies. I love programming, video games are great, and running is exhilarating. I want to read more philosophy, but novels are fun, and when will I find the time to learn calculus?
The point is, I have so many things that I could be doing in my free time. But I have to keep reminding myself to choose what not to do and to instead choose the few things I really want to focus on.
At times in the past, the thing I really cared about was programming—especially when I thought that it might become a career path. But at this point in my life, I care a bit more about softer skills. I want to spend my time now learning things that will make me a better person on the inside.
One of my core memories from childhood is my mom playing hymns on the piano. She’s always played the piano for church, and she taught each of us kids piano lessons at one time or another. I think I would like to be able to carry on that legacy in my own home, when I have one. So the first thing I want to develop proficiency in is piano.
The second skill I want to develop is speaking German. I just spent the last two years of my life learning German in school, and I don’t want to be part of the high statistic of people who never use the language they learned in school again. I want to continue self-study to the level where I could comfortably visit Germany and only speak Deutsch, or consume German media without really thinking about translation. I want to be fluent in it.
So there it is: the two skills I want to focus on are piano and German. More info on my plans for developing those skills will be forthcoming, but in the meantime I just wanted to get those decisions out there.
Until next time, -Jakobus