Seek the Pluses

At the beginning of 2022, I added a tricky word to #my3words. I picked "pluses," as in find the next possible "+" move instead of feeling bogged down. Let me explain what I mean.

Think of every potential opportunity or move forward or next step or option as a plus (+). Maybe in a video game context, if your character is moving along and they feel trapped, maybe they see a plus symbol and that tells you, "Oh, go that way." Just like when we read an article and we see the "(More...)" thing, we know to click it to expand.

The opposite of a plus is a setback, a wall, a challenge, a problem, something that maybe you can't deal with at all, can't deal with in the moment, or just don't have the time to stop and work on in the very moment. For whatever reason, I don't just simply call this a minus, because it's not usually the same kind of math. In fact, in a lot of ways, negative experiences like setbacks are often more like a divider. They split our attention. They chop our resources. They keep up from a focal point and a direction.

The Plus is the Goal

I'm working on about 40 things right now. This letter I'm writing to you is one. It's a plus because it gets me some exposure, plus it lets me think in a different mode, plus it keeps me moving forward instead of blocked. Moments before I started this letter to you, I was feeling the wall. I've got some financial setback work (on the plus side, I'm finally dealing with a problem I've had for maybe 10 years), and it's really triggering my clinical depression hard. (While depression is mostly chemical, there are always emotional triggers that can really get the negative juices flowing.)

In the past, I'd go to bed. That was my only move. Take my meds. Go to bed.

Now, working on the pluses, I decided to write to you and tell you about my concept about the pluses. This is just one really specific example, but the idea is to use it every day.

Stacking Up Pluses

I'll tell you a few weird ways that I now choose to stack up pluses:

1. As part of my job, I seek out people I can coach to better ideas and further personal growth.
2. If I can't sit down and write creatively on a deeper project, I jot notes and bullets for other projects that will need those bullets as starter points later.
3. If I need some emotional "food," I watch videos on YouTube with topics like "This video will restore your faith in humanity" and such, which often show people being nice to old people, less fortunate types, animals stuck that need to be let loose, babies getting their cochlear implants in, etc. (This one's weird, but it really gives me free chemicals I can use to fight depression chemicals.)
4. I look at my journal and see which 'wins' I reported yesterday or the day before. (Another good reason to have a journal on the go.)
5. I go and help other people. A plus is being helpful. (HOWEVER, it's a setback if you eat up way too much time doing this. You've gotta hit the sweet spot of not filling your days doing "dumb easy" stuff, simply in pursuit of avoiding setbacks. )

Avoiding Setbacks

Damn. Okay. So, I have to talk about this. There's a way that people can "misuse" this concept. If you try to bury all the setbacks and bad things and ucky things going on in your life and world, that's not especially good for you, either. Just like not dwelling on something is probably good, but avoiding something that needs handling isn't good at all.

Setbacks must be dealt with. The "Pluses" concept just means that when you hit the wall, just go sideways and do something else for a while instead. Attack that setback later, or from a different angle, or with different tools. See what I'm saying?

That's how the pluses work.

You with me?

Give me a +

Chris...