The What If Club – January 2025

Well, Merry Good New Year etc.

 

I think that covers it 🙂

 

This is the first The What If Club (TWIC) monthly round-up of 2025 and only the second TWIC ever, so still finding my feet a bit. But I’m reporting back on everything that The What If Club is all about i.e.:

 

‘What if … (insert your dream here)?”

 

Here’s a triangle. It’s my original one

As a reminder, this triangle describes the content of all other triangles. It shows you what goes where.

 

At the top there’s the concept, which can consist of ideas, information and learning. Bottom left is the system, which includes frameworks, processes and physical objects. Finally, bottom right is the energy which is the fuel, the motivation, a dynamic force.

 

Triangles like this have appeared in my life for decades, when I have been trying to work something out. Finding that ‘there’s a triangle in it’ brings great relief and understanding to a project. When I was researching triangles more deeply, for The Wandering Lightbulb, I understood that my triangle also represented a balance between each of the corners. The triangle was a living representation of a situation, not a static snapshot.

 

As I search to understand the dynamics of this TWIC monthly round-up, the three elements of the triangle seem a good framework to start with:

 

Concept: What have I been learning and thinking about?

 

In December I decided to create a programme out of The Wandering Lightbulb. My thinking was that if it was a course, rather than a series of rambling blog posts, it might help someone looking to understand themselves better. The Wandering Lightbulb Programme (great name huh?) will include more physical resources, information in both printed and video form, and a live help facility for anyone who becomes stalled or lost in the process.

 

I’m putting the whole course together over the next few weeks, so look out for an update in TWIC Feb.

 

System: What have I been making or organising?

 

I have tried this focus technique a couple of times and I like the way it works: it’s called ‘a month’s work in a day’. Well, the idea is that you can be more productive in one day than you think. Whether I produced a whole month’s work is questionable, but I certainly benefit from the deep focus time.

 

My focus day is every Thursday. I call it Productive Thursday, or ProdThurs. The day before, I make a plan for ProdThurs which runs from 5am (I’m an early riser) to 6pm and includes two, half hour breaks and a full hour for lunch. Each 2-3 hour chunk of time between breaks is allocated to a specific project that I want to focus on. I don’t specify any particular outcome; I just have to work solidly for the allocated time. No distractions.

 

I have to say, I absolutely love ProdThurs. In the last half hour, I write down what I’ve achieved that day and my next actions. I also write about how the day of focus made me feel and over and over again I hear myself thinking ‘what if I could focus like this every day?’. In reality, my teaching work chips away a part of most days in my week, and I find I cannot focus in the same way when the whole day is not blocked out. But I will definitely be using this technique more frequently in the holidays, with no teaching to distract me.

 

The best use I’ve found for ProdThurs is to schedule in things I’ve been avoiding by claiming that there wasn’t enough time. However, there’s a whole day on ProdThurs, so no excuses. So far, I have managed to research how to add a course on my website, tested various video filming locations in my house and produced a marketing plan to pull together everything I do. All things I had been putting off doing. Go ProdThurs!

 

Energy: What have I been inspired or energised by?

 

I was out-and-about in my car over Christmas, when something came on the radio that is going to change my life: Day Clubbing – woo-hooo!

 

I LOVE dancing. Any kind of dancing. As a proud GenXer, I know we had the best musicin the 80’s, but I will also dance Latin American, Line, Rave, Northern Soul or whatever you put in front of me. I have been known to hit three clubs a week in search of my fix. But, one-by-one, my formerly stalwart friends decided dancing was not for them anymore and decent clubs became thin on the ground, even in London. I resigned myself to occasionally dancing at an odd pub disco, family wedding or random festival.

 

Then Day Clubbing came along and I can’t wait to give it a go. The clubs run on a Saturday afternoon, usually from about 3pm until 7 or 8 pm, and just pump out all your fave tracks from 80s-90s. No dress code, no posing, just a joyful work-out on the dancefloor, then home nice and early in time to watch an episode of Columbo before bed (that last bit might be just me).

 

The reason Day Clubbing is on my triangle under ‘energy’ is that dancing is a hugely enjoyable activity for me. The physical excursion, the music, the community all builds into a properly uplifting experience. Until Day Clubbing came onto my radar, I didn’t even realise I was missing dancing so much.

 

I REALLY CANNOT WAIT.

 

Thoughts for TWIC Jan 25:

 

·      What topic has piqued your interest in the last month?

 

·      What would it bring to your life if you learned more about it?

 

·      Are you avoiding doing something?

 

·      What difference would it make if you did the thing that you were putting off? Or just dropped it altogether?

 

·      What activity brings you the hugest amount of genuine JOY?

 

·      There must be a way of doing that activity more. Can you find it?

 

The next TWIC will be arriving in your inbox on Feb 1st.

 

I’ll see you there 😉

 

As ever, I’m always available for questions and comments and you can leave your thoughts here or, if you’d like The What If Club delivered fresh into your inbox on the first Saturday of the month, you can join me here. A very warm welcome is always waiting 🙂