I’ve been a bit stuck the last week or two. Looking back, I think the reason is that I haven’t felt energised by where the plan was heading..
The place I’d got to was thinking about how to create meaningful change. I started doing product research – interviews with people who’d tried meditation and stopped, and why people had started in the first place. I re-read Atomic Habits and started thinking about a longitudinal email sequence, maybe even an app of some sort. Some kind of product to take people who’d used ThoughtCounter and stretch them into a new daily meditation habit.
It’s territory I’ve got a lot of background and experience in. But it’s been done many times before. I think that’s part of why I’ve been turned off by it. The idea of building another email sequence or app – even one tied to ThoughtCounter – hasn’t pulled me in. Hence not really doing much for a couple of weeks.
So I want to revise the 12 week plan and refocus on what’s actually giving me energy.
Two shows coming up
The first is Hackney Art Week, where I’m planning to show the audio installation. There’s a piece of work around drafting the synopsis and planning in detail how that comes together.
The second is the NHS show, which Daniella encouraged me to take part in as part of the course. ThoughtCounter, mental health and the NHS sit together quite naturally, so I’m really glad she nudged me towards it.
What I’m thinking is to keep things simple – work on new editions of ThoughtCounter for these shows, keep getting feedback, keep developing the installation and booth based on how people interact with it. That direction is giving me much more energy than email sequences and apps.
Slow, organic, in person
A couple of conversations have reinforced this. Jonathan suggested not to develop a product at all – that change happens slowly, and the move is to relax into that. To make everything considered rather than wanting to push and scale. Another friend, Jono, made a similar point – rather than building something online, bring people together in person.
A meditation group of some sort, maybe. It’s a new way of approaching things for me, but it feels like the right move – particularly for this course.
What I’m doing next
I’ll update the 12 week plan with a view to focusing on new editions of ThoughtCounter for the two upcoming shows, and push the ‘meaningful change’ work further down the road – perhaps after the shows are done.