Lara Adams

Co-signing the focus-on-one-skill idea: in a 30-minute slot try 15 minutes drawing from a reference, 10 minutes doing an overlay check on your tablet to spot angle and proportion errors, then 5 minutes redrawing the key fixes. Use the same 3–5 references once a week for a month so you can A/B compare and see concrete improvement. To work around a shared space, prep a tiny ref set and a warm-up sheet so you can start immediately and spend the whole window on reps, not setup.

Co-sign on the cheat sheet and add a simple color code and a default 20% buffer for time zones and shipping so expectations are pre-baked. Phrase tradeoffs as a menu with costs: “Can do X and Y by Wed at draft quality; due to shipping lead times, Z would move to Tue next week or we drop Z’s QA.” A short Monday capacity note helps too: “This week I have 32h committed to A/B; any rush will displace C or reduce quality,” so pushback later feels like follow-through, not friction.

The multi-phase plan with color-coded macros will die on day three of a 9-6 plus commute. Mornings work because no one can schedule over them, but only if you keep it tiny. Think 15 minutes bodyweight and a brisk walk at lunch to kill the crash. Evenings are great for stress relief, until traffic or social stuff nukes them. Pick the slot you can defend when your boss drops a 5:45 ping and then automate it.

Man, I remember when I was backpacking through Europe a few years back and everything went to hell. I lost my luggage with all my workout clothes and even my running shoes & so my cardio routine just died right there. Gained like ten pounds from all the pub food and felt like crap. Now I over-pack backups for everything, even for jogging at home. It's frustrating because starting over sucks, especially if you're busy like me during travel seasons. You feel lightheaded? Yeah, that happened to me too when I jumped back in too fast after a long break. Should you slow down? Absolutely, don't push it or you'll burn out. I learned the hard way - tried running 30 minutes right away and got so dizzy I had to sit on the curb. See a doctor if it persists, but for me it was just dehydration and not eating right before. If I started over, I'd do step one: drink water an hour before, step two: eat a banana, step three: start with 10 minutes and add time each day. Pitfall is ignoring your body's signals, I did that and ended up with a sprained ankle from pushing through the dizziness. Busy season makes it worse, so be realistic and don't overcomplicate with fancy apps or gear.

I have used prescription hearing aids for a while and when the batteries started losing charge faster I decided to try Nova. They work well. The sound quality is better with prescription but Nova still amplifies very well. Background noise is minimal compared to other brands in the price range. For a first pair I would suggest trying Nova. If you notice you are missing the finer details you might want to go with prescription and get help from an audiologist for adjustments.