Book Review: The Renaissance Soul

I have a very short list of books that have actually changed my life substantially -- three so far. I think The Renaissance Soul by Margaret Lobenstine is going to be the fourth.

This book is fundamentally about solving a dilemma I've had my whole life, namely: if you are interested in too many random things, how do you get a meaningful and satisfying amount of depth out of them, without having to sacrifice all but one or two? So far, it's been nearly impossible for me to just choose one or a couple of things to focus on for a long time, because that feels like boxing myself in way too much. But then I'm left with a constant worry that I'm never going to achieve anything real, because I haven't taken enough time to dig into a specific subject. And in fact, this probably is true, and I feel sad about not having gotten far enough in most areas to get any real satisfaction from them.

So that's the problem. What solutions does the book offer?

It's a deceptively simple system:

1) Pick just 4 things (she calls these "Renaissance Focal Points") to focus on for a medium amount of time (several months to a few years).

2) Re-evaluate and let which 4 things you're doing change over time.

There's a whole lot more that goes into it, though. The supporting material in the book really helped me work through some blockers I had preventing me from doing something like this before.

Some mental blocks that I had that the book helped with:

• Anxiety about long-term commitment locking me into things I won't want to do anymore.
  
• Anxiety about overcommitting myself, even temporarily.
• Anxiety about losing interest in things too soon.

I would strongly recommend buying it and reading it if this is something you've struggled with. That said, here is a quick summary of the algorithm with the most important parts for me.

Figure out your values

 The first step is to define what's most important to you in life. Renaissance Soul has an excellent "Five from Fifty" exercise, where you choose no more than five values that are most important to you from a list of fifty possibilities (plus, you can optionally add your own if none of them fit). This really helps narrow down and clarify your priorities.

Lobenstine emphasizes that it's important to recognize when you value things in life that are undesirable or you might want to admit to others that you're pursuing. For example: money, fame, wealth, and power are all on the list. If those are things you want, it's better to be honest with yourself about it!

This has some similarity to other "write a mission statement" type exercises in books like "7 Habits of Highly Effective People." I find these exercises quite helpful. This one is particularly nice because it's simple and doesn't require you to do too much writing.

Choose focal points

 The next step is to choose "focal points". These are something like "projects" or "areas" or "hobbies". How vague or how specific they are will depend on your life circumstances. For me, focal points have varied in specificity from "Go hiking more" to "Be a better parent" or "Do $SPECIFIC_PROGRAMMING_PROJECT" or "Music". They can be something at your job, if something at your job is genuinely important or inspiring to you, or they can all be non-work-related and personal. You want to choose them while keeping in mind the values you chose in the prior step. Make sure you have a spread of things to work on that fulfills your values, and doesn't leave any neglected. But at the same time, you don't want to be doing too much.

Lobenstine recommends exactly four (4) focal points. If you have more than that, you're going to be stretched too thin. If you have less, you might get bored. That said, less is also okay if you feel happy with it! I personally find it hard to stick to just 4, so it seems like a good limit to me.

An important thing to remember here is that these focal points are not forever! They are for a few months to a year at a time; the idea is that you will reevaluate what you're focusing on periodically, and let it evolve based on the results of past projects. So you don't have to feel like you're missing out by dropping all the other projects you want to do.

Make a structure with blocked-out time

 The book has a lot more detail about this, but in broad strokes, the next step is to think about how you will make time for each Focal Point in your life. Do you have specific commitments related to it that you will have to fulfill at scheduled times? Or if there are no external commitments, can you block out a few hours each week to work on it independently? How will you work around other features of your life (job, family, etc.) to make time for it? Do you need to ask other people for help or support? Do you need to make sure you have a pot of tea ready for yourself when you're going to work, or set up your desk more nicely, or ... ? This is basically the "plan how this will actually happen" step.

Have weekly check-ins

 Lobenstine recommends keeping a Focal Point Notebook. In this notebook, each week, take one page and make a table, where each focal point is a column. In each focal point's column, write down what you'll be doing this week. Then the next week, check in on how you did, and repeat the exercise. This helps keep you accountable, and helps you figure out what works for you and what doesn't. Plus, it helps you remember the progress you've made and celebrate it!

Re-evaluate values and focal points

After 4-6 months, or after some specified commitments have passed (a semester, or a specific deadline, etc.), go back to your current list of focal points and values. Hopefully by now you've gotten some solid work done on them, and have enjoyed the process so far! How are they working for you now? Are these still the things you want to focus on, or is it time to pick some new ones? Redo the above exercises, and make a new plan for where you are in your life now.

Other helpful things

The book also covers a lot of ground on the issue of "How do I do this while still making enough money to live and support myself?" This part wasn't relevant to my life circumstances at the time when I was reading, so I skimmed it, but I'd definitely recommend checking it out. Sometimes the solution is to just get a J-O-B that you're only doing for the money and focus on your hobbies in your free time; other times, there are ways to make some money from your hobbies, shift your day job to be more exciting, or scale down your day job to make more time for other things. I'll probably be coming back to this part of the book in the future, and maybe I'll write a more in-depth review if I do.