Then What?
January 31, 2024
Current location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Reading: Like, Literally, Dude by Valerie Fridland
Listening: Fantasneeze by Bombay Bicycle Club(if you have a moment, reply with your own 3-item status via email or in the comments)
Then What?
When we’re making plans and setting goals, in some cases the desirability of the outcome will be assumed, our only real question being how to accomplish it.
That reflex isn’t always ideal, though, as many of our efforts—our hard fought and depleting victories—orient us toward outcomes that sound wonderful in the abstract, but which won’t actually serve us and may in fact hinder or harm us, in practice.
Rather than assuming a nice new phone or snazzy shoes will inevitably lead to happiness, then, we might ask ourselves what happens next, post-acquisition.
I buy this new smartphone—then what?
What does it do for me? What does my future with this possessions look like versus a world in which I don’t have it?
Through what mechanism do I become happier? When I imagine myself holding that new device, tapping the screen, and clicking the little volume buttons what aspect of using it adds value and fulfillment to my life?
In some cases the improvement in functionality or even the look and feel of the device will indeed provide us with a productivity upgrade (in terms of work or keeping in touch with friends or fiddling with games on the train) or a long-lasting thrill of aesthetic pleasure derived from wielding a well-made piece of hardware.
Often, though, we’re prodded to purchase not for any specific reason but because marketing messages and cultural signifiers (celebrities and other attractive people using this specific device) have subtly suggested to us that this is the phone to have because it will imbue us with something of the same ineffable amazingness that those more-visible possessors of the same item exude.
The same can be true of life goals like getting a promotion, having a baby, or taking an overseas vacation.
I get that promotion—then what?
I make more money, probably, but do I like the work I’m now performing? Do I like the additional responsibility? Is this something I truly desire for explicable reasons, or is this something that I know I’m supposed to want, that represents a next-step of some kind, but which, if made manifest, I might regret because of previously unacknowledged tradeoffs?
Maybe I have a baby, but am I doing it because I want to have a child, a larger family, or am I doing it out of some sense of responsibility? Am I doing it because I want to feel loved? Am I doing it because that’s just something a person does at a certain age once a sequence of other items have been checked off the Adulting 101 to-do list?
A vacation almost always sounds great, but is that trip to that place at that time focused on activities what will really help us relax and decompress? Or are we actually aiming to reconnect with our partner, who we’ll be traveling with but maybe not in a context that allows for connection? Or maybe we’re keen to experience something of the local culture, but we’re staying at a resort, which could limit our opportunities in that regard?
Asking ourselves what that vacation will look like and why can help us get more out of it and help us avoid the trap of going on a not-ideal-for-us trip that we opt for not because it seems like something we’d benefit from, but because it’s the most pervasive generic example of such a thing.
All goals and investments and endeavors are potentially wonderful and valuable, but asking ourselves about specific outcomes and getting really into the nitty-gritty, concrete details beforehand can help us better calibrate our compasses so we arrive precisely where we’d like to be (rather than with a generic, one-size-fits-none version of the thing or activity in question) and can deviate from inherited or thoughtless pursuits before they consume too much of our time, energy, or resources.
Interesting & Useful
All of the 8,331 License Plates in America
“Hawaii offers the fewest number of plates, with just 14 designs to pick from (plus decals with messages drivers can attach). But a small number of plates offered doesn’t mean lower quality plates. In 2022, the Automobile License Plate Collector’s Association chose Hawaii’s beautiful “Polynesian Voyaging” as the "Best New Plate”. The “Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park” is also quite beautiful.”
A Clock Where the Time Is In A Song Title
You might also check out the News clock and the YouTube clock.
“Some of the finite structures considered in graph theory have names, sometimes inspired by the graph's topology, and sometimes after their discoverer. A famous example is the Petersen graph, a concrete graph on 10 vertices that appears as a minimal example or counterexample in many different contexts.”
Outro
Last week’s request for your thoughts on my upcoming book’s title resulted in some truly useful data and a lot of great alternative title suggestions—thanks to everyone who participated in the poll!
At the moment it looks like about 60% of respondents like my original idea (How To Turn 39), and I think I’ll stick with that for the time being (unless something that seems way more ideal comes to mind as I’m going through the editing process).
Speaking of which: I finished writing the first draft of the book a few days ago!
I’ve spent the past two days figuring out my next-step editing routine, and I’m diving into that today. Wish me luck, I really hate this part of the process. But it’s also when the real book tends to be extracted from the first draft’s raw substance, and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s there when the dust settles.
What’re you working on at the moment? What’s been on your mind? Tell me what’s been up with you, or take a moment to introduce yourself if you’ve never said hello (you can just hit reply on this newsletter and I’ll receive your email). I respond to every message I receive and would love to hear from you :)
Prefer stamps and paper? Send me a letter, postcard, or some other physical communication at: Colin Wright, PO Box 11442, Milwaukee, WI 53211
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