Week 35/2022: Just do the next thing

Week of 29 August 2022

Just do the next thing. . .

I started to write this post but, reading over it, I realised it wasn’t going anywhere. So I’ve shortened it to be a quick update on my three focus areas.

I want to fix my shoulder and I’ve been getting the physical therapy and doing the exercises (or movements) I need to do to help this. But it’s a long slow process and there isn’t much I can write about.

Cutting a very long story short(er) in relation to learning about my INTP personality type, I really don’t need to take in any more information about this. I don’t need to organise the information I have. I need to do something with the information.

A few weeks ago, I listened to a podcast from Personality Hacker, which talked about how it’s great to learn heaps of information about your personality type. You can often get a kick hearing your traits described and explained, which then helps you give yourself permission to be that way, instead of what you think you should be (or what you think other people think you should be).

I know this is true for me.

But, Joel and Antonia cautioned, there’s a danger in taking in too much information and not doing anything with it. It doesn’t enact any meaningful change in the world. Learning about type is not the work you have to do, they said. This is just information. It’s a tool that facilitates the work you have to do.

Guilty!

The podcast went on to say that you don’t need to know everything to take action. You just need to know enough to do the next thing.

Yes, I do, said my introverted thinking brain. I have to know EVERYTHING so that I can be absolutely sure I’m going to make the right decision about what to do next based on ALL THE INFORMATION. Collecting information is one of my superpowers. (It actually is: as well as it being an INTP thing, gathering lots of “input” is one of my Strengthsfinder (thing 14) strengths. )

But nope. If I wait until I have all the information (and have sorted it all out), I’ll never do anything.

And this (doing nothing) is exactly what I’m doing now. I’m pretending to do something by putting my notes in order and working out a very detailed plan. Actually, I haven’t even got to the plan stage. I’m just procrasti-sorting notes out.

Time to stop! As the podcast said, all I need to know right now is what I need to do the next thing.

So. What do I actually want to do?

Besides fixing my shoulder and better understanding my INTP preferences, if you recall way back to July when I did a soft reset on the year, I said I wanted to focus more on writing.

Since then, I’ve finished two of the courses I had signed up for, which leaves one to go, but I haven’t done anything outside of that. So I need to set some goals or tasks or something to get that back on track.

I know this is starting to sound like procrasti-planning, but what if I give myself a deadline of Sunday (11 September, just to be clear which Sunday I’m talking about) to work out what to do next and when to do it? If I haven’t done it by then, I’ll be getting up at 6 am every morning to write for 30 minutes. Or maybe 5.30 am so I can get back into my morning walks too . . .

I’m supposed to work my weekly plan out each Sunday so I can write a post about it the next Tuesday. It’s now Wednesday, the week’s half gone and I still don’t have a plan.

This plan is now it.

22 for 2022 update

I continued procrasti-sorting out my handbook/instruction manual/whatever it is (I’ve forgotten) (thing 12), and I read some books (thing 21).

22 for 2022 summary

  • Things completed to date: 8 (8, 10, 11, 13, 18, 19, 20, 22)
  • Things completed this week: –
  • Things I worked on this week: 2: (12, 21)
  • Things in progress: 4 (1, 5, 12, 21)
  • Things not started: 2 (14, 17)
  • Things that are parked until the end of September: 6 (2, 3, 4, 6, 15, 16)
  • Things I’m not going to do: 2 (7, 9)

What do I want to do next week?

I will make a plan to start writing again. I also want to do some work on my new photo project.

Weekly summary

What was the best thing about this week?

I went back to TMAG to have another look at the Antarctic photo exhibition and really appreciated the chance to see René Koster’s photographs from his voyage on the 1911 ship again. They have this “otherworldly” quality that adds to the already otherworldliness of Antarctica.

A photo of an old fashioned sailing ship on a dark sea, displayed onscreen i a dark room with ceiling beams
One of René Koster’s Antarctica images

The Bond Store basement was the perfect exhibition space for them.

What did I learn this week?

I learned that male blue wrens change colour to blue from brown to attract mates, and that the group of one blue wren and three or four brown ones I often see in my yard is not a male and his harem of female, but is more likely a dominant male and female and a couple of males who have stayed brown hanging around them.

One day I’d like them to stay still enough for me to photograph them.

What I’m reading this week

  • Only a Monster by Vanessa Len
  • The Wardrobe Girl by Jennifer Smart
  • League of Liars by Astrid Scholte
The cover of a book bearing the title Only a Monster, with an image of a woman's face in black surrounded by swirling red
Only A Monster by Vanessa Len. Recommended.

I can’t be sure but I think this might be the first week in 2022 where I’ve only read fiction books.

Habit tracker

  • Days I went for a walk in the morning (Goal = 5): 5
  • No phone at breakfast (Goal = 5): 5
  • Days I did my morning planning routine at work (Goal = 5): 5
  • Days I did controlled breathing (Goal = 7): 7
  • No phone at lunch time (Goal = 5): 5
  • Days I did my post-work pack up routine (Goal = 5): 5
  • Finish work by 5.30 (Goal = 4): 5
  • Days I worked on my art (Goal = 2): 3
  • Days I read a book (Goal = 7): 7
  • Days I went for a walk or did other physical activity in the afternoon (Goal = 5): 5
  • Days I shut my computer down before 9.30 (Goal = 6): 7
  • Weekly review at work: Yes
  • Weekly review at home: Yes
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