Happy Friday, people. It feels good to be productive after a vacation, be it your day job hustle or your side hustle, and I’m in an especially good mood considering I get paid today. 🙂
It’s also easy to get caught up in your hustle which is why it’s important to take some time every day to take care of yourself and relieve some stress; working is virtuous but not if you forget to live as well. Being health conscious includes your mental health as well as physical health (perhaps more so) so remember budget time for yourself to avoid burning out.
Personally, I like putting on some lo-fi music in the evening when I’m unwinding from my day job at Wingstop. There are several channels to choose from on YouTube but lately, I’ve been tuning in to some synthwave.
Life has a lot of distractions especially in modernity, it can be difficult to stay focused on what is important. Computers may have worsened our attention spans but they are not going away, so we have to become more disciplined with ourselves regarding how we manage our time amidst all of this technology. Create a long-term goal for yourself and remind yourself of that goal every day; resist the temptation of your vices and avoid instant gratification. The best things in life require effort so work for them.
The key to survival is adaptability, using the tools from multiple situations to improve your own standing on the world. “Survive and take what is offered,” as one of my favorite sci-fi dramas words it.
Adaptability can be difficulty in our modern world because most of the changes that fall upon us are less perceptible in the short-term. Our pre-historic ancestors had to adapt to immediate changes like alterations in the weather, a new predator on the horizon, and a plague-stricken tribe. Today, we deal with more subtle changes like the possibility of a new job, market fluctuations for commodities, and the need to update our personal skill sets. Most people may not place a lot of value on the little decisions made in a day but these little decisions can (unfortunately) add up to a lifetime of regret. Seizing opportunities in youth can help set up decisions for the rest of your life and ensure a meaningful existence as well as commonplace happiness.
I’m not saying that we should stress over every repetitive decision we make in a day like what you have for breakfast one morning or should you drive or ride public transit, excess stress is never productive. I’m simply saying that we should always be reminding ourselves to try new things because it’s easy to get stuck in a routine. Humans are creatures of habit by nature and that can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. To get trapped in a status quo (or an echo chamber) for the sake of security can lead to unfulfillment later in life. Be open to change and actively seek it out.
There is an old metaphor about human potential: if you are a military general leading an army with the goal of conquering an island, the easiest way is to burn your own boats because then there is only one option. It’s amazing what a person can accomplish when there is no way to go back – when there is no way out – when your goals become necessities.
You don’t have to be a “jack of all trades” to be successfull in life. I think it’s much more beneficial if you go all in on your strengths doing work for which you are best equipped naturally. Do not wait to pursue your passions, seize opportunities today.
What is your goal for today – this week – this month – this year?
Trust takes time to build and can disappear in an instant, so it takes long-term planning to maintain trust with a person. Building trust requires thinking ahead about the repercussions of your actions on other people – sacrificing quick pleasure today for more pleasure in the future. That does not sound conducive to a 24-hour news cycle in which a news station must develop new methods of holding the attention of an audience in a society that rewards instant gratification more than long-term planning, a society that records success in quarterly reports with the expectation of indefinite growth.
“Why don’t people trust the news? Concern about bias, spin, and hidden agendas (Ricardo Bilton, Nieman Lab, 2017)”
The 24-hour news cycle has ruined the news industry – it’s no longer about effective journalism with an intent on holding power accountable to people – it’s about voyeuristic, sadistic, and instant pleasure for the worst aspects of ourselves. We are not going to find content of substance on the “mainstream” networks designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator of the public and there is a shift taking place from traditional forms of media to new media. Some new media stars (commentators, pundits, call them what you want) are gaining their own audience by mocking the old guards, making substantive new content through satire.
Let’s compare an interview from BBC’s Newsnight to it’s satirical counterpart by rising YouTube entertainer Wizard of Cause:
Both of the above videos inform the audience about the people involved in the interview but which of the video is more entertaining?
If media spokesmen want to regain the trust of the public, I think the first thing they need to do is place more faith in the public, particularly their audiences. Rather than dumbing down content to make viewing require less effort to undertake, trust that the viewers can figure things out for themselves. Perhaps newsmen can learn some things from comedians.
Crabb-Talk 