Some of you wrote very kind emails that I haven’t been able to reply to. Some of you wrote emails that I replied to, and then thought, “I should share this on the blog, or touch on it.”

Here are some highlights, from my intended responses and actual responses both:

Q: What should I focus on in my career? I am an INTJ.

That’s a deep question! A few basic things all INTJs should focus on:

• Learning about their role, history of the role (! rarely focused on!), and the applicable techniques & technologies. Be open to new stuff!
• Knowing those they work with, at the very least in terms of type. (Whether that’s coworker, boss, or customer) See if you can understand them well enough that they naturally want to listen to your feedback.
• Establishing the right rhythm for work and recovery. Not only should you know when to take a break, you should know how, and for how long. If you can break through to this level, you’ll have an excellent platform for career growth. Tip: There are different types of breaks.

Think about those and try to organize your thoughts on them. Start a new doc, notes file, wiki page, etc…

Q: What do you think about 2026? It feels damn scary. From global politics to local issues in my city.

If you can influence the outcomes, go for it. Some of you really can! Please be careful of the Fe blind spot issue.

If you can’t, feel free to keep your head down, working on what works.

For a lot of you, social media is going to cause you to clown yourself and feel intractably frustrated.

In this situation I think it’s wise to develop a separate kind of system.

What is that? Only you can decide. But for me it involves a lot of direct study of various topics, tracking those, and processing the ideas.

Were you ever in school when somebody looked out the window and said, “look, there’s a fire downtown!” or similar?

That could really be a nice break. Something different.

But each one of you is of two mind-perspectives: Out there and in here. If “out here” isn’t really tractable…at some point “in here” is definitely going to seem much more attractive and doable.

And, for “in here” to work, we generally have to be emotionally settled, in a way…

So, if you want to “do,” maybe that’s where you have to go! Back into the mind and its various interesting directions.

(Am I saying: Don’t get involved in politics? No…but recognize both domains and make it a point to engage where you have tractability.)

Q: Are you religious? I saw that you used to be…

No, I’m no longer religious. But I still come from that world, so I try to make the best of my background. I have helped a lot of formerly-religious people sort out their next steps.

Also, being formerly-religious helps tremendously when it comes to sorting out the Inner Stoic, or the Inner Prophet, from The Fool. :-) (Just thinking in terms of archetypes!)

Q: Do you think an AI chatbot is a reasonable substitute for coaching?

In the sense that it’s better than nothing? Maybe!

In the sense that it’s “good”? Not really!

These LLMs are out here recommending “gentle” this and “mindful” that, as if they’re a very rough caricature of a life coach from the early 2000s. But even those actual life coaches tended to use more specifically-interesting technique.

To me, it’s crucial to make the delineation: If you just need shallow, one-off coaching, that’s just something different: “Look, just do anything!”

But if you need more serious tools and reflection, using an AI chatbot is not going to be it, and you already realize that at some level, and maybe that’s why you’re asking.

Q: I asked an LLM to coach me as if it was you. How did it do?

It got my bio kinda-right, so that’s worth a point.

The rest was BS and you should ask for your money back. Again with the mindfulness! Ten points are deducted.

Don’t be deceived…and I think that’s why you asked.

Q: Sometimes people complain about overthinking. Is writing in long form the same as overthinking?

This is a very good point! Is “needing to breathe in order to live” the same as “being addicted to breathing, and having an addiction problem?”

And generally, “some people” are not always worth your attention. Keep learning and growing, even if it means you do a LOT of writing.

Q: What big things are on your mind right now?

First: People are suffering. They are frustrated. We live in a world of volatility. It’s crucial to start stabilizing personal processes.

Second: People want to give, they want to help. They don’t know how. We live in a world where the “help” has been disconnected from the “need,” more than ever. If you can help re-map and re-connect the two, you are going to be able to help all of us. But for now, I think it’s important to at least share what you’re thinking & working on. A lot of those who need your help will find it.

Third: Disruption has reached a critical peak. It’s at the point where we see mainly the dark side of disruption: Disruption IS disruptive (bad meaning). That’s a huge problem, and always has been! People are going to start talking about stabilization again. Wisely so.

Finally: We are surrounded by a lot of really dumb problems. Primal emotions will tend to disconnect us from really basic logic. Don’t get caught out! Don’t apply too much complexity if you’re helping people. They want to feel OK again. People have very basic needs.

And so: Helping the world doesn’t have to be complex. Keep it simple.

That’s all for now! Take care everybody. —Marc

Filed in: Blog Updates /4/ | Therapeutic Practice /147/