Try something new for 30 days

Today I asked my student Z. to write down two activities he would like to do for a month:

1. Read a book in English for 15 minutes a day.
2. Lift weights for 15 minutes a day.

Then we listened to the TED talk Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days about how small, sustainable changes for 30 days makes habits stick.

I make a goal to learn one Turkish word or phrase a day. "That sounds too easy!" says Z. Well, I can always learn more words. I blog about learning Turkish to hold myself accountable. I already wrote about how -den mahrum bırakmak means to deprive and how to schedule a meeting in Turkish. Here is my new Turkish phrase of the day:

Sıfır means zero.
-den başlamak means to start from something.

I started from scratch.

Sıfırdan başladım.

Next weekend Z. and I plan to lift weights and bench press as we practice English. Standing up and lifting weights will relieve my lower back from too much sitting in all of these lessons. Exercise will also be a great follow-up to our walk and talk lesson along the seaside. Z. will learn phrasal verbs and gain strength.

"Two birds with one stone!" he says.

"Two burdens, weights and English, with one lesson!" I reply.