Hi, [s2Get user_field=”first_name” /]!
Ready for breaking up your solid new habits, for a little more fun?
If you are like many of the students I see offline in the real world, you may be able reaching a point where habits start to hold you back. You are likely doing well with wearing your differential and normalized prescriptions. You are probably maintaining good screen distance. You likely have some good focus pushing and pulling habits. All that may not be enough.
Instead of doing everything every day, you now have the option of breaking things up a bit. This makes most sense if you find yourself just not really pushing much focus, or mostly mainting the passive habits – reducing strain, but not that much active stimulus. If you are uncertain, try this strategy for thirty days. It will suit some individual temperaments and lifestyles better than others.
Use this if you feel inclined to try an alternative strategy. However if you feel good about your current progress and habits, carry on! You can always save this one for later.
Divide and Conquer is based on the premise that we don’t need active stimulus every day. Minimizing strain by maintaining good distance, alternating focal plane, and breaks is a daily habit. But pushing and pulling focus is not necessary every day, to experience ongoing progress. It is just as well to take two to three days per week to work on pushing focus, if that helps you to be better engaged in that process.
Action Items
- Day 1: Push Focus Day – As much as possible. Keep it at and beyond the edge. Get an hour or two break. Don’t work in low ambient light conditions.
- Day 2: Pull Focus Day – Now, no active focus pushing. Instead, get as much outdoor time as you can (maybe this is a weekend day).
- Day 3: Rest Day – This could be the second day of your weekend. No pushing or pulling focus. Skip TV, computer games. Outdoor time (without much focus pulling effort) is ideal.
- Day 4: Passive Day – However you like it. Call it a day off from rehab efforts. Keep strain low, stay close to the edge of focus, but no active work.
- Day 5: Passive Day – Same as Day 4.
- Day 6: Passive Day – Same as Day 4 & 5.
- Day 7: Warm Up Day – Preparing for Push Focus Day. Ten minutes of every close-up hour, push a bit of focus. Get some outdoor focus pulling time as well.
If you do this, do it at least for four weeks, to get an idea of how your progress changes – and how you like this, vs. having every day be the same. As a habit, it is not all that intense once you do it for a while. It should merely be a day specifically focused on up-close work, then a day focused on distance work, a day that’s very much intended for as little close-up time as possible, and a few days of just not thinking about any of this.
Some students like to put these in their calendar, and often customize it to coincide with their lifestyle / schedules. Just be sure to have the Warm Up Day, and some days off. Your eyes improve when you relax – the focus work is strain, you get the most benefit from the ‘time off’ periods.
I was off by one session, last time. It’s actually the next session that’s the first one of session group 14. We’ll cover important ground, including the question whether you actually need astigmatism correction.
Remember, resist the temptation to just rush through sessions. Grab the next one when you’re ready, possibly after you tried above’s one-week idea for breaking up your focus work.
Let me know how you’re doing, in the forum!
Cheers,
-Jake
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