C is for The Cave And The Campfire

by mike on March 30th in Choosing To Apply Practical Tools

What is your preferred way of living and working? Are you an introvert, extrovert or a mixture of both?

Sometimes you may like to spend time in your cave to reflect. Sometimes you may want to spend time beside the campfire with certain people. Sometimes you may want to get the right combination of both. Let’s explore these different modes.

Spending time
in the cave

When do you like to spend time in a cave? Sometimes in your professional life you may need to do solitary creative work without interruption. Perhaps when you are writing, problem solving or pondering a tough decision.

Sometimes in your personal life you may need individual time to do some slow thinking. Sometimes you may simply want to make sense of experience before moving forwards.

There are many different kinds of caves. Perhaps you have favourite physical spaces where you withdraw from the world. These may be a studio, a bed or even the corner of a coffee house.

Sometimes you may withdraw into your own psychological space. You may want to listen to music, go for a walk or find other ways to reflect.

If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to do the following things.

Describe your favourite caves – the places you use as a sanctuary and where you take time out to reflect.

Describe the specific benefits you get from spending time in these caves.

Spending time
around the campfire

When do you like to spend time around the campfire? What do you get from being in these places?

Looking at your personal life, you may like to share ideas with a few kindred spirits. You may enjoy talking with them, getting stimulation and finding solutions together. How can you spend more time with these people?

Looking at your professional life, who are the specific people with whom you like to share the campfire? Who are the customers and colleagues with whom you enjoy working? Do you have any favourite places where you like to meet? How can you spend more time in these situations?

If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to do the following things.

Describe your favourite campfires – the people and places that give you a sense of enjoyment, stimulation or peace.

Describe the specific benefits you get from spending time around these campfires.

Balancing the cave
and the campfire

What for you is the right balance between the cave and campfire? Do you need to spend more time alone? Or do you need to spend more time getting stimulation from the real world?

Everybody is different and it may be impossible to get the perfect combination. But it can be good to clarify how much time you want to spend in the different places.

Everybody is a mixture of introvert and extrovert. A person who is an introvert, for example, may like to spend time reflecting and composing their thoughts.

They may also be a good leader, however, when moving into the role of doctor, carer, trusted advisor or other professional role. The role provides a chance to follow clear guidelines and enable other people to succeed.

Susan Cain became known for her work on the power of introverts. Below is a TED talk she gave on this theme. You can discover more about her work via the following link.

http://www.thepowerofintroverts.com/