Since I discovered Raptitude, a great mindfulness blog by David Cain, I have become fixated with his latest reflection on the year just gone in which he decided to implement a guiding principle for his approach to his projects and hobbies for that year – he called it his ‘Depth Year‘.
The principle of a depth year is this: instead of dabbing in interesting new pursuits as they come and go, look back (or to the present) for activities that you have become involved in and instead deepen your relationship with them. Make it an aim to get to ‘the next level’ at that thing; deepen your understanding of it, get super interested in a specific niche of that topic or sector. Bump up against your limitations, risk sucking for a bit at whatever that next level is, create stuff and put it ‘out there’.
David’s aim is to encourage a mindful appreciation for what we already have; and to minimise a sense of craving. This is something I’ve historically felt a bit resistant towards for fear it would turn me into some kind of unambitious zombie couch potato – until I discovered Mark Manson’s hilarious inverse law and realised he was right – the more of a grasping, craving mindset you have towards something, the more it sets you up for not making progress towards that goal in any way!
I like the Depth Year principle very much. So much so I’m signing up to do it as well. For those that like to have group support in their goals and have people to talk to about stuff – you can join the Depth Year Facebook group here.
Ok, but how is all this stuff relevant to strategic work?
Late last year I decided that it was time to deepen my relationship with a select few key activities in my life as regards projects and work, so this creates a perfect setting for my activities in the coming year. I also think that it’s a great thing for a strategist to do, as depth – mining for insights – involves a uncovering new ways of seeing old, or mundane realities in the things people do, believe or feel.
I have a couple of builds on this principle – as you, like me, may have a few old projects or passions and can’t possibly revive them all at the same time without giving up working or sleeping.
So to tailor this to my needs, I propose the following:
Pruning my schedule – some things are just going to have to be dropped. Like that wellness blog I once set up. I hate telling people what to do with their health anyway, and increasingly, functional medicine doctors are rightly entering the space and getting rid of the jokers saying questionable things that they are not qualified to talk about! As strategists we do this all the time, chopping out extraneous bits, fluff and ‘information’ masquerading as insights.
Postponing less urgent passions – reading David’s blog made me think of taking up the piano again and drawing more like I used to; but it’s better to do a few things well, than do a million things terribly. So for now, they are on hold. In strategy, as in life for me this means purposefully putting off implementing ideas that could be great for a campaign or project, but not for now.
Prioritising what matters – creative writing used to fuel my life and underpinned all of my progress at school/university. I re-started last September and this will be a key focus for 2019. I’ve found it to be more helpful at times than many educational networking events – as those events often just let you passively take in information. Making and applying is how I learn things. On that note, creating and building products and services is something I have dabbled with and will return to with a vengeance under The New Work.