Don't Believe Your Own Bullshit.
Heck, don't believe ANYONE'S bullshit!
“The thing about the Guru’s is that they start to believe their own bullshit.”
A new friend, Ryan, opined in our discussion that these experts out there pushing their expertise lose touch with how people work.
We had been going on about paid Masterminds and Cohorts and Offerings and Courses, maybe it was a rant, who knows.
The thing is, there is an expert, or a course for just about anything you want to learn or do on the internet. They want money for those things, so that means they also have marketing to convince people to spend money.
Ryan’s statement was at the peak of the conversation.
The issue with becoming an expert in a space that is helping, teaching or leading others is that you need a certain confidence in your information and presentation.
Nobody wants to listen to someone second guess themselves constantly.
So… eventually you MUST believe some of your bullshit. Eventually, the marketing material has to accurately reflect how you feel about what you’re doing.
Believe it, but don’t accept it as “canon”
My writing and my business plan revolves wholly around my learned perspective on the world. I’m writing about what I’ve experienced. I’m creating a tool based on what works for me to be more “productive.”
To work in that space, I have to look introspectively, but also critically at my life, my actions and what I see others struggle with. Unsurprisingly, my default is to second guess everything. Also unsurprising, my wife’s least favorite quality is my tendency to advocate for the devil.
To actually create something, I have to then distill it into something useful that I believe in. That means I have to stop challenging everything and finally accept something as true.
I’m finding there is a constant back and forth, maybe it’s my ADHD, that has me trying to “check myself before I wreck myself” and allow new perspectives to come in.
I’m also finding that I’m very “anti-Guru.” The system I’m creating is deliberately infused with a component of user customization. The method in which I write, and the design of the workshops I’m working on, are similarly anti-expert.
When it comes time to help or teach another, especially when they’re one of the components of the teaching, you can’t speak in absolutes.
I guess that’s more ‘coach-like’ than consultant or teacher. Maybe I need to lean into that!
What works for me might not work for you…
While my focus is to create something that anyone who finds ‘normal’ isn’t normal for them and their brain, I DID start off with a focus on addressing ADHD.
I quickly learned 2 things:
What works today might not work tomorrow. - ADHD is fickle, it needs to see some variety.
What works for one person might not work for another. - This became obvious when I considered how most of the ‘productivity’ and ‘self-improvement’ books I’d read failed to work for me.
So, I’m learning and creating ways to let a user customize their experience to work for their needs. I’m also striving to present their output in a manner that can change from day to day. Finally, I’m looking to leverage AI to help keep some momentum in what can otherwise be a tedious task… “life management.”
Just to tease out what I’m talking about, here’s my ham fisted, early stage description of what’s coming down the pike from Channeling Chaos.
The ChaOS is a set of 3 components to help with prioritization as welll as knowledge, project and time management.
Capturing Chaos - Part journal, part interest dump, part knowledge capture. This will stand alone as a way to capture anything out there that interests the user with some lightweight knowledge management to make it findable.
Coordinating Chaos - Part PKMS, part goal setting, part purpose finder. This will stand alone as a way to figure out what’s important to you, how you view your life, and how you prefer to motivate yourself.
Channeling Chaos - Part project manager, part task manager, part to-do list maker and part habit tracker. This will stand alone as a place to add your tasks and view them.
On their own, they’re all fairly simple. When used in conjunction, the effort is to apply your values and long term plan to help prioritize what to work on and when. Working together, regular analysis will be done to inform you of how you’re spending your time, where you’re spending your attention and what you’re getting done.
Discerning bullshit from actual utility
There is a lot in my ‘offering’ that could easily be me telling people what to do. There is a huge potential for me to buy into MY bullshit without maintaining the flexible framework I’m intending.
I feel like this is one of the biggest dangers of “growing up.” We lose our curiosity, we lose the open-mindedness, and we stop thinking we could be wrong.
Maybe the secret to staying young is looking for ways to stay curious. It’s very probable that the more open you are to learning new things and allowing your mind to change, the less likely you’ll turn into a “get off my lawn” style adult.
Those are parts not mentioned in the ChaOS, but something to be added as it grows.
Mindfulness - Be observant of the world, be open to your own thoughts and trying to not get caught in ‘default’ behavior.
Self Awareness - Learn to spot your bad behaviors, or recognize when you’re closing yourself off to growth
Productivity or task management, at least for me, is more than just getting things done, it’s about feeling accomplished, or that there is more happening than just a series of tasks.
Another week of growth
I’m in my “learning arc” where a lot of what’s happening is my own personal growth.
More exciting, I’m looking for volunteers or beta testers to try out my first version of the system. Testers will be invited to a workshop where we go through using the tool and answering questions. With the completion of the workshop you’ll have a “to do list” of things to work on based on your own values and needs.
If you’re interested in participating, please fill out this form.
If you, or anyone you know, is struggling with focus, overwhelm or time management, I invite you to join the Chaos Cooperative community as well. While I talk about what I’m doing here, over there is where the tools will live as they arrive.
My plans, business-wise, are to continue working on these tools, running workshops and growing the community for people from all walks of life to change their relationship with the chaos in their life.
Namaste