Contemplating the Next Adventure— the Process
Looking for Ikigai.
I began Contemplating my Next Adventure a little over two years ago. Last week, Rick Turoczy messaged me and suggested that while I written a bunch about the outcomes of my process, I have not written about the process itself. Given that nudge, this short article will address the process I used.
First, in order to think, I need to clear out my mind. This is prep for the process. I used the approach spelled out in James Clear’s Atomic Habits. The thinking was that I needed to ‘automate’ as much of my life as possible in order to free up my brain for other things. It took about a month of work of using this method to streamline my life. I have a set daily schedule regardless of the day and I run like a machine. Most of my morning, eating, and going to bed routines are now so fully automatic that I put zero thought into them.
I don’t lose anything anymore and spend very little time thinking about ‘living’.. as in, doing the day to day stuff that keeps us alive. As much as I could, I use my google calendar to remind me to pay bills, purchase food, take the trash cans to the road, etc. My calendar thinks for me so I don’t have to.
This took about 3 weeks to a month to set up, tune, and adapt to my new ‘program’ (which persists to this day).
I then focused on mindfulness. I started meditating regularly. I tried HeadSpace and Calm and finally arrived at a simple app on the app store called Box Breathing Technique. This worked for me because it is simple. Work to choose a technique that works for you. I also was read the book Work, by Thich Nhat Hanh. If one of his other (many) books may appeal to you more.
I practiced what was in the book, worked on my breathing, and was able to become ‘present’. Being able to be present was key to the next step. With my mind in the ‘now’ and focused on what was happening, I was better able to think.
This I considered prep work. I got myself to a point where I was not thinking about the future nor the past, and not worrying if I forgot to pick up pretzel rods from the store. The mindfulness work was done concurrently with the ‘habit’ work but it took me 5–6 weeks to be able to quickly get into that right mental state.
And then the work of reflection started. To do this, I did two things.
One, I had a notebook with me wherever I was and when I was doing something, I would become aware and present, and I would jot down the time, what I was doing, and then a note to myself (this is lame, I hate this or.. this is awesome, I want more of this). I tried to take note of the ‘ok’ stuff but my notes mostly indicated the extremes.. what I thought sucked and what I thought was awesome. The recording also became habitual.
the second part of this was my ‘thinking day’. In practice it became my thinking 3 hours. I tried to get away from the house and outside of my normal routine and environment. I liked being out in nature down by the river, but found that sitting outside in my backyard in a place that I don’t normally go worked just as well. It was not important to be ‘away’ — I just needed a place that was different was enough of a change to put me into thinking mode.
I would review the week of my notes, look at what I thought sucked, what I liked, and then just reflected on it a bit. I did this for weekly for a few months and patterns and themes started to develop, most of which are covered in previous writings.
I wanted something simple and ‘lite’.. and this worked for me. If anyone else is pondering deep questions about your mission in life or are in search of Ikigai, it might work for you to.
