We are bombarded by an endless stream of incentives to buy, to consume.
- Oh, you need to watch this 12-second clip of a cat dramatically flinging itself at a chair. It's sooo funny. Your soul will remain hollow until you witness Mr. Whiskers miss his target by an inch but still lands on his feet.
- Oh, what? You haven't yet binged The New Big Show That's Totally Not Just Another Recycled Plotline with Pretty People in Shiny Lighting? What are you doing with your life, dude?
- Oh, hurry get this once-in-a-lifetime, 93%-off flash sale happening right now. Act fast because it will expire in less than 3 and a half minutes.
Prompts to buy are all around us. But what about something constantly incentivizing you to get back to what you were already doing?
Something encouraging you to continue working on your project despite the lack of immediate results? Something prompting you to continue reading the book you started a week ago, not look for a new one?
There's no longer a day in my life where I don't think about getting, starting, or doing something new.
While this is partly a good thing - coming up with new ideas can lead to a breakthrough idea. It's usually a complete drain to constantly have an internal debate on whether I need to purchase this gadget or start this other thing/project.
People around me are not helping. They are actually making the situation worse.
Rarely will someone ask what you are doing in terms of a personal project. Questions like:
- What are your dreams?
- What little action have you taken towards your dreams today?
- Do you need help getting from where you are to where you want to go?
No, the general conversation revolves around consuming stuff.
"Have you watched this? You need to watch it!"
"I've bought this new thing. It's amazing, you need one, too."
No, I don't.
And it's not going to get any better. Especially around the current shopping season and the one upcoming after that - Christmas.
Ahh, Christmas, the time of the year when people all around the world mistakenly believe that the way you showcase your love is by getting people more gifts they probably don't need.
But how about an alternative way to signal your feelings...
Sticking your head out of your phone and giving them a bit of attention? Asking them what they are hoping to accomplish in the new year? Asking them what they are working on or want to succeed at? Asking them what frustrates them in the world and how you can together do something?
But no, it's all about what have you watched, consumed recently.
We tie our identity with what we own and what we watch. But is this the right way to move forward?
Worth reflecting on:
What's your system to continue working on a long-term project?
I have a theory that at some point in life, you have to stop looking for more things to buy/do. And instead, focus on the things you already own/do.
It doesn't apply to everything, but it does apply to a lot of things.
The problem, as pointed above, is that there are so many incentives that try to steer you towards new things and not enough incentives that focus you on doing the current things.
For example, I don't need to start a new website, I need periodic reminders and urges that help me stay motivated to continue working on my current website.
But these are things we need to set for ourselves. We can't rely on the outside world to help us be consistent. The outside world is all about the new and shiny.
We need to find our own system that help us stay committed to the thing we care about. The things that are not new, the things that are not particularly modern and cool-looking, but the things that matter in the long-run.
Worth reading:
From my desk:
- Change Your Habits Using the Jobs to Be Done Framework [Part 1]: "JTBD explains that people “hire” products to fulfill specific “jobs” in their lives... In the same way, when we’re trying to build habits, we’re really “hiring” these new behaviors to perform certain “jobs” for us, all in the name of self-improvement."
From around the web:
- The Intellectual Obesity Crisis: "We now live in an attention economy, where people are trying to draw our interest by any means possible. Since low-quality information is just as effective at satisfying our information-cravings as high-quality information, the most efficient way to get attention in the digital age is by mass-producing low-quality "junk info"."
Worth thinking about:
"Modern man lives under the illusion that he knows "what he wants," while he actually wants what he is supposed to want."
― Erich Fromm
The above quote is from the book Escape from Freedom by Erich Fromm. I started reading it in the middle of this year, and I'm still reading it. It's not because I'm a slow reader, it's because the book is an intellectual powerhouse.
Erich Fromm explains that in time, the effects of powerlessness and insecurity start to feel so overwhelming that we acquire the general societal beliefs. Instead of creating our own standards of living, we try hard to fit into the common norms, which eventually leads to not knowing who we are and why we live how we live.
The book will be well worth your time if you're feeling unfit to the general ideals set by society.
Thank you for your time!
Regards,
