TL;DR
I’ve just completed 30 days of writing and reflection using the Life Quest Playbook. I didn’t set a measurable goal up front, so I can’t tell you whether I succeeded. What I can say is this: I wrote more than I’ve written in a long time. I noticed some surprising patterns. I began building systems to support the person I want to become. It’s too early to declare victory, but this 30 day cycle was a great start.
Observations from the First Cycle
- My goal was to get into the regular habit of writing, which I did with this blog.
- I discovered I can write every day. The machine works.
- I have captured a gold mine of data and stories from earlier points in life by following the structure of the exercises.
- I didn’t do any drawing or doodling; I put all of my work into a spreadsheet.
- ChatGPT is amazingly astute at picking out the insights in my exercises when I shared my writing with the LLM.
Field Notes: What This Process Looked Like
The 30-day cycle developed into a daily practice of noticing. Noticing how I operate. Noticing how I speak to myself. Noticing what happens when I write instead of doomscrolling.
I started this process with a hunch: structured self-inquiry combined with writing could generate real movement. I didn’t have a clear outcome in mind, which I now recognize as part of the problem. By keeping my goal vague, I made sure I could never really fail—but I also cut myself off from the clarity that real stakes bring.
Still, I made tangible progress. I wrote daily for 30 days. I created a custom GPT to support my writing and another to generate concept art for my blog. I captured hundreds of insights, reframed dozens of memories, and began treating some of my most persistent patterns as puzzles worth solving.
I won’t be doing any additional writing for the next 7 days, as Sheila and I agreed to take a week off after completing the 30 day cycle. I’m not sure what my process will look like after that, but I’m looking forward to inviting more people to be part of the process and potentially creating a community around the idea of living one’s highest potential through this simple framework.
My main insight from this process was that I could focus single-mindedly on my efforts to eradicate complacency and writing about what the cure for complacency could look like. I think we have come up with something great here that I look forward to continuing to refine.
