Dear J,
I’m thinking about systems again. Specifically I’m thinking about how to use systems as a way to avoid the trap of “I’ll be happy when” thinking, where happiness gets deferred until some future milestone is achieved.
I’ve been putting a lot of hours into this Revit business. It’s actually quite fun, and it feels good to be deploying specialty knowledge and skill in a way of value to other people, but I certainly see this level of effort as a phase of limited duration. The business needed a big push - a big concerted impulse of energy and attention - to get the main thing built and put together - and I made the decision to go all in on it willingly.
I seem to be approaching a light at the end of the tunnel where I can get away with fewer hours per week. I’ve begun a new rule: always be asking “can I automate this?” Can I turn my answer to this question into a video? Can I turn this workshop into a course? Can I turn this process into an SOP?
The desired output of this system is a business that requires fewer of my hours to run. Of course my mind turns to what I’ll turn my attention to as it frees up. I have… SO many ideas. I don’t know where to start.
I can see you rolling your eyes at me, J, so I’ll give you the abbreviated list. I want to:
Do a week or month long solo retreat in a cave in the desert, with only a notebook and 3-5 books.
Finish declutterring my studio and fix my motorcycle and maybe sell both of them.
Build a sand TES rocket stove
Build a sleeping pod to Passivhaus detailing standards for the learnings
Take some fabrication courses at the local university extension
Build a solar shower pod for my studio, and maybe for Moose Haven as well
Ramp up hours per week spent on A’s projects
Start another book (but WHICH book idea to run with??)
Make regular podcast episodes again
Pick back up my 3d art habits, and roll it into the work with A and my own DIY builds…
I could go on, but I’ll leave it at that for now. You get the idea. No, I won’t do half that, but that’s not the point. The point is, again, systems. Systems where I spend most of my time doing the sorts of things I want to be doing, at a natural pace, with a large surface area exposed to serendipity.
The point of systems is that a system — or a Way, a Process — is not the Mountaintop. It’s how you climb. If the Way you climb becomes the locus of attention, then the locus of attention can rest on the present moment and the experience of being alive in a certain kind of way.
And at some point you notice you’re on the top of the mountain, and hey that’s neat. You enjoy the view. And then you downclimb and keep going, because that’s the Way.
—
I did finish a couple small things this past month - the railing and the third version of my recumbent desk. I also built a little raised bed for E’s garden out of scrap wood and put together a new compost pile.
I’d write more but it’s a beautiful day - it’s raining - and so I’m going to go on a hike with a friend. I’ll write again soon.
-T
PS I found someone’s deep dive on Intrinsic Motivation (stoke!) and Self-Determination Theory. Great overview! I think you’d like it.