Which bit of the Dewey Decimal system drew you as a teenager?

AKA; Finding out what you're looking for

I just spent 53 minutes browsing Substack. I could have spent 53 hours, and likely will at some point. Because I had mentally pegged this as ‘research’ I didn’t feel too bad about doing it. And I did have a lovely time. I’ve said before that I like what I see on Substack and I am also on record as saying that my relationship with LinkedIn (which I know I need to work on if I am going stay in the game) can most politely be described as ambivalent. There’s a really interesting piece of research to be done into the pitfalls and parallels primarily of LinkedIn and Substack, and also Instagram. In particular around the question of “What are we trying to do here?” LinkedIn is straightforwardly about not-humble-bragging and Instagram certainly led with aesthetic (though it is clear that Substackers are now prioritising imagery often over words).

So in pursuit of the' “What are we trying to do here?” enquiry, I had a look at the Substack categories: Biz, Faith, Literature, Culture, Tech, US politics, Finance, Food, Sport, Art and Literature, World Politics, Health politics, News, Fashion and Beauty, Music, Climate and Environment, Science, Fiction, Health, Design, Travel, Parenting, Philosophy, Comics, International, Crypto, History, Humour and Education.

It’s quite a useful exercise, not least because it made me think as a reader, rather than a writer. If my current enquiry (that’s coach-speak for ‘question’) is: “What am I trying to do here?” it can be helpful to think about Substack in terms of how I want to spend my time as a reader. I am not short of things to read, so what am I looking for on Substack if not distraction (and again, not short of those either).

Clearly there is a pull/push question here; what pulls your interest v. what is being pushed out at you. Which is relevant to Substack because there is such a lot of perfectly interesting, often well written and beautifully illustrated, content. All of which reminded me - as so many things do - of the Dewey Decimal system. In particular, a question I ask when clients ask how to find their passion. Depending on their age, I ask either: “Which section of the library did you gravitate towards when you were a young teenager?” or “Which section of the magazine racks do you gravitate towards now?”

Because This Coaching Life, also…is intended to chronicle my year of figuring out my Next Act, I reflected on the sections of the library I gravitated towards when I was a young teenager. Full Disclosure: I can direct you immediately to the Georgette Heyer shelves; then Health and Beauty; Faith and Spirit and Food and Drink. (As a sidebar, the news that the Halifax Skircoat Green Library - home of Ms Heyer and the categories above) has been saved by the community, brought tears to my eyes. The point being that those categories would very likely be the categories I would gravitate towards on Substack today (the fact that neither the Skircoat Green Library nor Substack has a “Dogs” section is a matter of shame all around, in my book).

So that was one thing I learned from the ‘research’. Three others: 1. While there are a lot of people writing about executive coaching and about retirement, I still don’t see anyone writing the sort of writing I’m looking for about coaching and what-I-dont-call-retirement that I would like to find. Maybe it’s early days, but maybe I need to write it myself. 2. Something about Cheltenham and finding my tribe - not yet sure what means. 3. It’s all about relationships. It’s all about relationships. It’s all about relationships. Yes, so good I wrote it thrice. But for me it’s true that life is all about relationships. And that maps across to Substack and how you navigate your way towards the people you want to spend time with. I was going to write ‘hang out with’. But - as billed - I’m from Yorkshire , so I’m not going to write ‘hang out with’. I’m not a sloth.