Hailing In the New
Lessons for life on Goals, Success, Happiness, Books, Politics and God.
A new year is upon us.
And in the true spirit of New Year’s, allow me to philosophize on life with the hope to impart a few lessons I’ve picked up over the years. You’ve probably encountered most of these ideas. But, in the words of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes: nothing is new under the sun, thus, it’s always worth repeating. Also, a disclaimer: I usually shy away from sounding like I’m prescribing advice or life solutions. I don’t feel best placed to do so and I fear sounding like your typical toxic positivity-motivational-speaker-self-help gurus.
So, I write this, conversing with myself on what is to be done—as far as I’m concerned—to make this life a little more bearable.
🔷Find God or some version of that: A conception of the divine, the highest form of God or a pathway to ‘righteousness’.
It is known amongst alcohol researchers and alcoholism literature, universally agreed upon by all parties—religiously affiliated or otherwise, that the most reliable treatment for alcoholism is religious transformation. For addicts, the highest form of God is that addiction. It possesses you like a spirit does a spirit medium, such that all goal pathways point towards feeding that addiction—pleasing that god. Substituting incentive structure with a positive one, because we function on incentives in general as humans, translates the aim to a form of good and all our desires shift themselves to serve that incentive. And what better incentive structure than God? If not God—the Christian God, then something similar. In essence, one should keep one's aim upward and follow the most righteous path there is for oneself.
🔷On Goals and New Year Resolutions.
Have goals, big goals that scare you. Write them down. Then create everyday systems towards them. Anxiety and stress arise from our knowledge of inadequacy, hence the desire to run from our everyday lives. Of course, this assumes you’re not in the most extreme of places, say, war-ridden areas, or suffering through the gravest of illnesses. However, in all cases, it’s always possible to conceptualize some goals and everyday systems to make one’s life better at the moment, to make tomorrow better than yesterday.
Dopamine surges and anxiety relief abound when we reduce the distance between us now, and our future goals. Do something small every day. Record it down. Repeat. Repeat until there’s a chain of success. Then Repeat. That’s where great novels come from, great businesses, running marathons and great bodies. Not from one action. Or action, casually every other day when the weather or the body so desires. No. Progress is a magnitude of Consistency.
🔷On Success.
After goals comes the idea of success. In the grand tapestry of life, I believe it matters where you were born, your educational background, parental influence, opportunities, the environment, genetics, identity and everything that makes us unique. It matters in how we define success for ourselves, with the understanding of our origins and environment. It matters to define success in isolation, free from comparison with others whose behind-the-scenes we don't know. It matters to know when not to judge ourselves harshly and when we’re not better than our yesterday selves.
However, while we may not want to think about it, the reality is that our efforts can be inconsequential to how our lives ultimately turn out. Inconsequential in the sense that what we aim for may not be no matter how hard we may have worked.
Luck is a thing. You can create luck. And luck can come upon you unawares. You want to be the person who knows how to identify and manufacture their luck. Regardless, you always want to be prepared when the day of opportunity comes, and that’s through constant showing up and patience.
The ones who stay longer are usually the most successful.
🔷On happiness and pleasure
I’ve come to the conclusion that happiness is an abstract concept. The modern cancer that terrorizes society is easy dopamine. Yes, you’ve heard about it everywhere. We’re all locked to our phone screens and TVs. There’s overabundance and easy access to pleasure. Cheap and meaningless sex. Pornography. Alcohol. Processed food. Drugs. All kinds of drugs one can ever imagine. The pleasure from all these outlets has never been easier to access. And that is a pandemic.
What I’ve learnt is that pursuing pleasure or seeking happiness for its own sake is detrimental. The highest fulfilment comes from pleasure that arises as a by-product of work and sacrifice. To attempt to define happiness outside this context is criminal. Pursuing something hard, challenging or life-altering—responsibility, work, working out, parenting, meaningful relationships—is more fulfilling than the easy-to-access, false sense of fulfilment. And there lies real pleasure and happiness.
🔷On Books, reading and writing
As a general rule, I believe no one should be judged for the literature they choose to read. We want people to be able to read initially. Read what you love until you love reading. Don’t feel pressure to read the classics or the bestsellers. Read a little every day. Find time in your busy schedules. Deliberately carve time and protect it. When you love reading, then begin reading hard books. It won’t make you rich. The mind needs it. Thus, attempt it for its own sake, to uncover life’s hidden gems and to seek truth.
If you could write your thoughts down frequently, do so. It declutters the mind and makes for better processing much like a computer refreshing or offloading things from its memory(RAM). It doesn’t have to be writing a book. Maybe a journal. Or ‘to-do’ lists. Shopping lists. Random rushes of inspiration. It all counts.
🔷On Politics
I haven’t fully fleshed out a personal philosophy on politics. I’m a very interested party in politics, as should everyone I believe, especially the youth. But, what I’ve learnt and have taken to heart is echoed by the authors of The Dictator's Handbook:
“Where politics are concerned, ideology, nationality, and culture don’t matter all that much. Politics is about getting and keeping political power. It is not about the general welfare of “we the people.” Like all of life, it is mostly about individuals, each motivated to do what is good for them, not what is good for others.”
In that context, unless you’re at the epicenter of policymaking, or directly in government, try removing any attachment with individuals within the political arena. It’s hard, and also close to impossible because politics shapes how our money, education, families and successes can be oriented. However, it is important to understand your position in the grand theatre—how much power or influence you have, and also seek knowledge on who has the final say in what eventually happens regardless of popular votes or memorandums. This helps in managing expectations. And managed expectations equal fewer disappointments when things don’t turn out the way we hope they will, which, in politics, is almost always.
Unless you have a huge reason to or a calling from God knows where, refrain from being a hero. You'll die for a false cause. Exist within a collective. Even revolutions cannot survive unless many people buy into the resolve. I hope you're not attempting a revolution. But if you are, Viva la revolución.
Don’t follow individuals or singular identities. Subscribe to superior ideology regardless of whom or where it stems from. Ideas tend to outlive individuals. Group identity and solidarity can be toxic and, eventually, cult-like.
NB: My political resolve is largely informed by a strong context of Zimbabwean politics, and Africa in general. Although with a little understanding of American politics as well.
🔷Finally, when all is said and done, strive to find the good in the bad and the joy in the hard. Our paths are unique, as they should be, and therefore deserve to be treated and interpreted with respect for their individuality.
Chill and have fun. Easier said than done. Well, I pray we all find that balance of making all this a reality.
Compliments of the New Year. 🎆🎁
SOURCES:
I read first about the idea of incentives from Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner.
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