Over the last few weeks I’ve been feeling good. I put this down to Jordan Peterson, who has taught me how important it is to have a plan in place: not so much a destination as a set of stages that need to be met in order to get there. The destination is secondary, what matters most – in terms of well-being – is that you are striving to get to it.
His shorthand for this is that humans are “goal orientated.” In other words, they find a position in the world through reference to an object that is elsewhere, in this case and object that is located in the future. Without this in place, a human doesn’t know where to position itself. So I have begun to place goals in front of me.
He also insists on the importance of structure and routine, so I have begun to put structures and routines in place. For instance, a new structure that I’ve placed myself in is that of the public library. I volunteer there at least once a week, now. Their reliance on volunteers forces me to get up on my days off. I couldn’t create this structure on my own.
People who are highly self-motivated might need much less structure, but I find that I need a lot if I’m going to get out of bed in the morning. I’ve learned, basically, that in order to feel good, I need to be busy, and that, in order to be busy, it isn’t enough for me to just “think of things to do.” No, I need to place myself inside structures, I need to take on some responsibility.
When I move to London in September, I’m going to redo Peterson’s future authoring programme in order to reevaluate my goal orientation and work out which structures and routines I would benefit from placing myself in.
Orienteering 