I used to think that you had to hit rock bottom before you could get clarity on life changes. It was as if rock bottom were the only place you could find the necessary leverage to make important changes. Then I found equanimity. I stopped raging against the dying of the light and just replaced the bulb. What I found is that self-disgust isn’t the best motivational force in the long term, mainly because it can only be sustained for short periods of time. Far better, perhaps, is to have a system of checks that stop you from ever getting into the bad situation in the first place.
A large part of GTD is about learning that you can only do some things when you are in the right context. So, for instance, I am currently suffering from post-prandial tiredness which is leeching my desire to do anything. Given that taking a siesta is not possible, I search for stimulation. I hit upon trying to write something that isn’t just some mind splurge or surrealist poetry. If this works, I should remind myself that it works. If it doesn’t, then there is no point wasting time on it again and again.
People can generally be broken down into 3 groups: those who do what they want to do,
those who do what they ought to do and those who do what their instinct tells them to do. The latter camp includes alcoholics and telly addicts, people who are neither pro-active or guilt-ridden. It shouldn’t really be a battle to get the brain to do what the mind wants it to do. If only there were some way to get all three aspects in alignment (without the traditional method of hitting rock bottom!).
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This is interesting and I don’t think you need Rock Bottom to think about this. I am almost certainly an “ought to do” character who worries about the future too much and is overly self-conscious.
Last night I went to see the Harlan Ellison biopic at the Edinburgh Film Festival. Seeing the portrait of a man who is so filled with anger, hate and love made me vow to be a “do what they want” character instead. After all, I am trying to “think the opposite” as Mr. Arden advises from beyond the grave. Tomorrow I would pack in my job and take up fulltime writing and womanizing and to hell with the consequences.
Needless to say I’ve not actually written that letter of resignation yet.
Do it (so I don’t have to)!