It happened in an instant
A book from nowhere ...
Over the last several months I have been working with my performance coach exploring new life paths, both professional and personally. I am in the process of transitioning out of a 25+ career year in the technology space as a consultant, designer, and engineer. At this point in my life I am incredibly fortunate enough to be in a position that affords me the financial freedom to think about what I want to pursue without income being the primary factor in my decision calculus.
In approaching these decisions I find myself learning a new skill - to shut down my highly analytical and problem solving mind and, and as cliched as this sounds, listen to both the universe and my gut. Following ideas that seem promising and checking in with my gut as I pursue them to see if they resonate. Typically in my business career I would analyze a problem, formulate a solution and then regardless of how much effort the tasks(s) required I would just muscle my way through them with a force of will to reach my goal - very outcome focused. This approach has served me well in supporting a successful career - but it relies on an extreme level of internal motivation and perseverance, and often times is far from effortless.
When I am successful in shutting down my pre-frontal cortex and listening to my gut and the world around me to feel what resonates, I seem to be able to slip into a flow more powerful and effortless than what I am able to drive purely out of logic and analysis. An analogy that comes to mind is the experience I have in surfing, when with little effort I can position myself into just the right place and harness the power of the wave itself to propel me forward. Perhaps this is part of me learning to tap into a “larger self”?
The genesis of this book is the most recent and salient example of this force in action. For the past couple months I have been working on putting together a podcast where I wanted to focus on interviewing people who were solving big problems in the space of consciousness, theoretical physics, the nature of reality, and human performance. It has been a bit of a slog - the topics excited me, the connection with people seemed like it would be fulfilling, but for some reason it just didn’t feel right. It seemed like it was requiring a lot of effort. The analogy I used with my coach is that it felt like trying to take a bite of an unripe fruit. The shape and color seemed right, but it just wasn’t ready yet … when I checked in with myself I could see this happening, but just right not now.
Then as if out of the blue, this idea bubbled up to my awareness. I opened up Google Docs and started. Literally within 20 minutes I had just created a book Title, Subtitle and outlined about a dozen chapters. All in the vein of sharing the dramatic (and sometimes traumatic) spiritual journey I began back when I was a junior in college that has led to the life have today which is filled with newfound sense of gratitude, connection and equanimity. I both wanted to share my story and connect with people, but more importantly see if there was a way I could somehow improve the lives of others.
Over the next few days I made some minor refinements to the outline below, but 90% of what you see came to me in a matter of minutes. I am sure I will make further edits and I worry that the subtitle sounds too presumptuous, but it is a start.
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Looks like a great start Tom! I feel like I’ve already learned so many new things about you from this new project of yours. Throughout my kids lives I’ve always taught them that when pursuing a goal, it’s really easy to get super focused on achieving the final outcome. However, I believe that the true joy and satisfaction of achieving a worthy goal is actually found in the journey that is takes us on to achieve it. So, don’t forget to stop and smell the roses along the way!
The universe keeps delivering signs, dear friend. The obstacle is the way. Can’t wait to read more!