Why don’t you ever have time?
Is it a systemic problem? Or an Individual problem?
The short answer is Yes.
Shane Parrish has a brilliant link to a thought-provoking article from December of 2019 in the Atlantic. (https://lnkd.in/evRcH4Jn)
He highlighted this passage:
“In my experience, the debate over labor and leisure is often fought between the Self-Helpers and the Socialists. The Self-Helpers say that individuals have agency to solve their problems and can reduce their anxiety through new habits and values. The Socialists say that this individualist ethos is a dangerous myth. Instead, they insist that almost all modern anxieties arise from structural inequalities that require structural solutions, like a dramatic reconfiguration of the economy and stronger labor laws to protect worker rights.”
In a world of Abundance, it is left to the individual to understand the different systems at play and your own individual motivations and aspirations.
In this world, there are fewer and fewer guiderails. Scarcity doesn’t force you into survival. Social & Religious norms hold very little sway over your actions. Community expectations have no bite. While this allows many more to explore and live in a more accepting world, infinite optionality is also paralyzing.
With Abundance comes the responsibility to find your purpose, set your own goals, your own values, your own standards.
From that vantage point, you have to decide how to play.
This weekend has been about recalibrating. My long term personal aim is largely anchored.
This weekend was about aligning what the next 12 months look like in my life?
How will I play within the systems? How will I own my focus, my environment, my biases, my habits?
How will I mobilize this and evolve over the next year?
I’m grateful for the weekend to do so.
ARTICLE
Nov 23, 2021