Chapter 3

Creating an Authentic Project

    Before we turn our attention to several detailed projects-of-being,
we need to ask about the mental processes by which we create these projects.
First we must become clear about our present purposes for living:
What implicit values lie behind our current style of life?
Then we can start the long process of growth and evolution,
beginning by revising those dimensions of our lives most in need of change.
From the positive side, we can imagine ourselves pursuing definite purposes.
And we might decide to record our process of becoming more Authentic
by keeping a journal of our insights, struggles, and proposed experiments.

I. SOME STEPS TOWARD DEVELOPING AN AUTHENTIC PROJECT-OF-BEING

    As the Chinese say, "Even a journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step."
Our Authentic journey will be even longer, since it has no destination.
Authenticity means always being on the way, actively pursuing a project.
But even such a life-long journey begins with one step.
In order to re-design ourselves, we must first clarify who we are now;
we must first uncover our operational life-purposes.
These underlying assumptions may have been so enculturated
and so taken-for-granted that we cannot even name them.

A. Taking a Time-Inventory.
    We can most easily discover the operational principles of our lives
by taking a careful inventory of how we actually use our time.
Every week consists of 168 hours. Where, precisely, do these hours go?

    We might begin by estimating where we think our time is going.
This will help to establish the categories of our time-use:
sleeping, eating, working; transportation, leisure, relationships, etc.

    Whenever I take a time-inventory, I carry a card with me,
on which I note the time whenever I change activities.
I also calculate the hours and minutes consumed by the activity just completed.
At the end of the week, I lay these cards out
and add up the time spent sleeping, eating, writing, reading, etc.
Usually my total comes close to 168 hours.

    Confronted with the raw data, we probably begin to make excuses
for having spent excessive amounts of time sleeping or watching television.
We should pay close attention to this process of excusing ourselves,
because it reveals where we waste time even according to our current values.

    Examining our actual use of time will disclose our day-to-day purposes,
forcing us to think about the relative importance of our various activities.
A time-inventory will lay bare our implicit priorities.

CREATING AN AUTHENTIC PROJECT by JAMES PARK                                                    29

If you would like to read the rest of this chapter
—which explains several other pratical steps
toward creating our Authentic projects-of-being—
go to the publisher's website: existentialbooks.com
or write to the author for more information:
James Park: e-mail: PARKx032@TC.UMN.EDU

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