👎 Start With What You Don't Want

not not (newsletter)

👋 Hi First name / friend,

I’m 9 days away from my show and just sent my photos off to the printer – but completing Hands of Trinidad is part of my 1.5 year goal to become a public artist, which ultimately drives me toward my core value: IMPACT

If you grabbed last week’s template, the values exercise, you should now have a short list of values you’ve defined for yourself, like I have.

Now, you’re ready for the next step in building The OS — the goal setter.

But let's be real, this is deep work, even when it's simplified into a Notion template.

So, let’s dive into this week’s topic:

What If You Don’t Know What You Want?

When the muscle of desire is underdeveloped or atrophied, we need to strengthen another muscle to compensate. Just like how a blind person might use touch to navigate, we can use what we don’t want to guide us toward what we do.

When I asked myself, “What are your values?”, I froze. The overwhelm of choice felt paralyzing, and accessing my own desires became triggering. This is asking the muscle of desire.

But when I flipped the question to, “What are not your values?”, everything shifted. Suddenly, I recognized a sense of clarity and confidence in my choices. This is asking the muscle of discernment.

If you don’t know what it is,

start with what it’s not.

This concept is actually the reason why my brand is called Not Not (more on this in next month’s podcast, stay tuned 😉).

It’s about navigating through contradictions, peeling back layers, and figuring out who you are by first figuring out what you’re not.

I’m still unsure if I’m meant to be an artist, but I know I’m not not an artist either. This approach allows me to explore who I’m becoming without the rigidity of committing to a singular identity.

What’s Next?

The next step is the goal setter.

The goal setter helps you take your list of values and chisel away at what’s not serving you. It’s not about creating something from scratch — it’s about revealing what’s already there by eliminating the noise.

It’s time to set your goals in alignment with your values.

✌️Catch you on the flip side, Daryl Oh

GET THE GOAL Setter HERE!

The ‘Hands of Trinidad’ Photo Book

The Hands of Trinidad project is a pubic art initiative made possible by the sales of the photography book and the generous support of The Sharon Prize Grant.

BUY A SIGNED COPY

@not_not_daryl

“You don't rise to the level of your goals. you fall to the level of your systems.”

200 West Main Street apt 207
Trinidad, CO 81082, United States of America