Alana on improving herself

Good morning, Alana. How are you?

Good morning. Good morning, Michael Strong.

I hear a voice of both your father and you, but not yet video. Do we have video coming? We do. There we go. All right, family in the car.

Yep.

Where are you guys going?

We're at jiu-jitsu, but I don't think they're open yet, so, and we need to do the call with you, so we're staying in the car for now.

Got it, got it. Well, so there are, well, let's think about getting better at things. Do you remember a couple weeks ago we had a call about things you wanted to get better at doing? Do you remember that?

I don't think so.

That's okay. What if I were to ask you today things you want to get better at doing? What are some of the things that you want to get better at doing?

Um, maybe jiu-jitsu. I want to keep getting better.

That was definitely one of the things last time for sure. So jiu-jitsu is one of them. Anything else?

Shooting bows and arrows because sometimes they're not that good.

Archery was definitely another one, so you still have that one. Anything else?

I don't think I have anything else. Okay, maybe, um, maybe, um, like when I'm— it's just like me and Logan and mom sleeping, um, in her room and, um, dad's at work, maybe I could get better at taking care of him.

Wow, that's a big one. That one's new. So tell me about taking care of Logan. What do you have to do when you take care of Logan?

Mostly, um, sometimes I like read a book to him or something. Maybe, um, um, maybe sometimes we draw. Sometimes we don't play with the marble runs. It's one of the presents that he got for Christmas because he loves marbles.

That's cool. And he, he never puts the marbles in his mouth? Nope. I would be a little bit afraid of a little kid swallowing a marble. But as long as he doesn't put them in his mouth, we're pretty safe on that one, I think, huh?

Yeah.

So how do you get better at taking care of Logan? What do you think? And I, you know, years ago I had kids, but it's been a long time and I don't know Logan very well. So what would you, how would you get better at it? How would you know?

Maybe I could, maybe I could um, like get better at like giving him food and stuff like that, water.

Okay, it sounds just like water. How can you get better at giving somebody water? That sounds pretty easy.

It's because, um, sometimes I don't think about it because we've been having fun.

I see, I see. So, um, getting better at it, maybe is kind of developing more, kind of developing more awareness of what he needs?

Yeah.

I see.

Yeah.

Okay, that makes sense. Here I was kind of thinking, you know, just giving him the water is too easy, but developing more awareness, I think that is something people can get better at. Do you think you have gotten better at becoming more aware of certain things?

I Well, I think so too.

How do you, how do you help yourself get better at being more aware of things?

Like maybe I could like put it in my head and not forget it, or maybe I could just like set a timer for 30 minutes and have a snack, have some water, another 30 minutes.

That, those both, those both sound interesting. And the thing about the timer is it seems like that works whether or not your mind remembers. And it seems like it would be better if your mind could remember. So what I like about that is you have two different strategies and they're complementary. Um, okay, that's very cool. I always like to have new ones. Um, so with respect to archery, um, how are you going to get better at archery?

Well, I could work on my stance. I could work on, um, how I'm holding the bow and how long it takes to release it, because the longer you take to like aim while you're holding back the arrow, the more you'll shake and mess up.

Those are great suggestions. Do you remember the phrase deliberate practice?

Yes.

And what does it mean?

I think it means to practice correctly.

And, um, yeah, kind of to be aware of. So for instance, with, um, the releasing part is interesting because again, it's been a long time since I've done archery, but, uh, you know, you don't want to hold it for a long time cause you get shaky and tell me if I'm right about this, cause you're the one who's actually doing archery, but it seems like you want to kind of have everything just in the right place. So that when you kind of have it stretched out, you're ready to, you're ready to let it go. Is that kind of right?

Yeah, yeah, but you can take like a few seconds to like aim and then release.

Got it, so it's a few seconds is okay, but like 10 or 20 seconds is way too much?

Yeah.

So yeah, deliberate practice is noticing and being aware of, and maybe you have your dad coach you on or somebody else coach you on, how your stance is or how your aim is or how you're pulling the bow back so that you can get better and better at each piece along the way. Would you say you're already doing that a little bit?

Yeah, I think I'm already doing that a little bit because like whenever I go, like I always like check my stance, feet straight and like I'm standing the way that I'm like other people where other people are shooting. And then the side and then shoot.

So that, that sounds a little bit like a kind of awareness. It's not the same awareness as when does Logan need water, but it's kind of being aware of how you're standing and whether your stance is correct. Does that seem accurate?

Yes.

Cool. Um, so jujitsu, how do you get better at jujitsu?

Um, well, maybe I could like, focus more, maybe I could, yeah, like maybe I could, like work on, maybe I could be drilling with my brother so that he gets better too. Maybe because he started a few months ago. Maybe I could get better at like, when we're rolling, which is like we're just like fighting like live, I could like go harder with the other kids.

So all of this is interesting. So with respect to Logan, so it sounds like you could practice at home basically with Logan?

Yeah, like I could hit him.

How do you, I mean, I think you're probably so much stronger than Logan. How do you do it with Logan and not totally, how can it be a real practice for you when you're strong and Logan is so much smaller?

Um, maybe like he could do it first, like I could show him how he could be in mount, which is a very good position for him, and then maybe I could teach him an armbar.

Okay, that makes sense. And then, um, what do you call your teacher at jiu-jitsu?

Um, Coach Adam.

Your coach. Does your coach Does your coach advise you on how to get better at jujitsu?

Yes. Like if we made a mistake, he corrects us.

Um, so that's part of it is simply, you know, having your coach help you for sure. And then when you say focus, how can you improve your focus?

Like maybe I could like talk less, maybe. Yeah. Talk less. Um, like if somebody says something funny, I could just like not respond or something so that I'm more focused.

So it sounds like kids are kind of acting like kids during jiu-jitsu class?

Well, not really. I mean, sometimes they focus and most of the time they focus, but, and most of the time they're like just right.

Okay, good. So it's already pretty good. You're just saying it could be a little bit better maybe? Yeah. And I bet you're probably one of the most focused. Would you say you are the most focused or one of the most focused?

Uh, no. I mean, sometimes I goof around a little bit.

Okay. So you could get better maybe by goofing around a little bit less, huh?

Yeah.

Okay. So the other time we talked about this, in addition to jujitsu and archery, and you did not mention Logan, You mentioned reading and math. Do you think that you still want to get better at reading and math?

I do. Like, I could get better, like division, addition, subtraction, multiplication. I could get better.

Okay, so you're doing multiplication and division now?

Mm-hmm. Well, I kind of figured out division with my mom. And then multiplication, also a little bit with my mom, and then right now in school we're learning about fractions.

Okay, and with fractions, are you adding and subtracting fractions?

Like we're doing like parts of a whole, halves, quarters.

Got it. Basically learning what the different fractions are.

Yeah.

Okay, um, so at school have you learned multiplication and division yet or not yet at all?

Um, I don't remember.

Okay, so maybe you're learning stuff at home. Can you do— so can you do 7 times 8? Do you know what 7 times 8 is?

No, but I'll— it'll— I'll like have to count my fingers and stuff.

Oh, okay. How about 2 times 3?

6.

There you go. So with respect to getting better at math, how do you think you can get better at math?

Maybe I could practice a little bit more.

Do you enjoy practicing with math?

I do. One of my favorite, um, parts of school is doing on this app called ST Math.

And with that, is it like a test or what is it? When you do it?

It's like, like it has like different levels of like math. Right now I'm on measurement. It has addition, subtraction, stuff like that.

Okay, and then with reading, how do you want to get better at reading?

Maybe I could challenge myself more and maybe read more Maybe read more harder books.

Now last we talked about reading, you were reading Nancy Drew. Are you still reading Nancy Drew?

Um, I finished the book that I was first reading and now, and I finished one of the back-to-back stories and now I only have one more to go.

And do you like Nancy Drew?

I love it.

Wonderful, that's great. It makes it more fun to do stuff when you love it and I'm really glad you love it. Are you going to read more Nancy Drew?

I hope so. I might— I'm searching it up on Libby, probably.

Okay. How long does it take you to read one Nancy Drew book? Do you know if it's a week, a month, a day?

Maybe a few days.

A couple of days?

Yeah.

Okay, that's pretty good. I expect you're already a pretty good reader, but you're right, the thing to do with reading is to read bigger, longer, harder books. And because Nancy Drew is, I think, great stuff to read, I think that's perfect for where you are now. But would you say that in all of these things you mostly enjoy the process of getting better at it?

I do. I like reading.

That's great. You know, I think if we can get better at things and enjoy doing so, you know, then— because what's hard— is there anything that you do not enjoy getting better at?

Nothing.

Okay, in which case I would say you are in a good spot. Well, I'm gonna keep this short and I'm gonna let you guys have a great day and hopefully we'll check in next weekend. Sound good? Okay, bye-bye, Ilana.

Bye, Michael Strong.