Friends of Dave #351: 🎃 pumpkin fatigue 😩
Why Does Everything Have to Turn into the Hunger Games?
Friends, I was sadly reminded of an annoying fact about human nature on more than one occasion this week:
Human beings are bored AF.
That’s right. You, me, all of us. We are bored — maybe not all of the time, but just enough to be dangerous…..mainly to ourselves.
We all talk about how great technology is and how simple and convenient it can make things. But all of it comes with a price: it gives our minds time to wander.
Back in the Dark Ages, people didn’t have time or inclination to do things like doom scroll. Hell, if they heard the term “doom scroll” it probably meant that someone was coming to their hamlet to read a list of names written in pigs blood by some lord of the Hills naming those poor souls that were going to tortured, stoned (no, not in a Cheech and Chong kind of way either) or called a witch or something.
All of this while having a life expectancy of a current Millennial and having to worry about things like dysentery, leprosy and the Plague while they worked long hours in the fields or pounding iron as a blacksmith. You think they had time to keep checking to see how many people liked what they had for lunch on Tuesday? Their lunch was possum stew with a side of berries that might or might not be, at best, moldy or, at worst, poisonous...let’s be real, Friends, no one in the Dark Ages liked that sh*t.
Think about it: if they drew a picture of their possum stew and berries and posted it in the town square for everyone to see and comment on they would probably end up on the doom scroll for being mentally ill or deranged….
And people think adulting these days is hard? I literally can’t even, Friends….
Of course, in the big scheme of things, our lives today are relatively easy. Comparatively speaking, we should be able to have a fairly simple existence. And yet, we have this need to make everything into a struggle or bloodsport — particularly in the workplace.
Instead of focusing on what really matters — like aligning together to do an honest days work, contributing to achievement of a common goal so everyone benefits (including our families) and finding joy in the fruits of our labor — we allow our minds to wander, get distracted and then often consumed by our own self interests and insecurities.
We speak poorly about co-workers behind their backs. We mistrust people. We withhold information. We work hard to curate a persona that we think positions us best in the eyes of others — even if it isn’t in line with who we really are. We see all the things wrong with where we are, with whom we are working, and what our role is. We go about our work not with pure intentions, but with hidden agendas.
Let’s face it: we all can find ways to put effort into making any aspect of our lives into a version of the Hunger Games if we really want. We all have done it at one time or another. In fact, when I was younger I used to think it was fun. Now I see it is a lot of wasted energy.
And in my mind it leads back to one unfortunate truth: human beings really are bored AF.
It’s funny, over 9 years ago I wrote an article for HBR entitled “Startups Have Office Politics Too” basically as a cautionary tale to Big Company people thinking they could seek complete refuge from corporate politics and the Hunger Games by joining startups.
In some ways, at least for a little while, you can — the pace at an early stage company is so fast and often hectic that, if you are properly engaged, you don’t have time to let your mind wander. There’s way too much stuff to get done and not enough time or resources to do it that you are constantly in motion. You need to work as a team just to keep things moving.
But it still happens. Why? Because humans are bored AF. Even when we think things are hard, they are still too easy. So, of course, we come up with ways to make them hard.
We’re not driving our Teslas to Trader Joe’s to pick up possum stew and moldy berries.
We’re not regularly battling illnesses that a quick trip to the local pharmacy or a shot usually can’t remedy.
And a doom scroll these days, while it can be torturing, generally doesn’t result in someone being burned at the stake.
You don’t have make your life, personal or professional, an episode of Survivor or the Hunger Games. It’s a choice you make. If you don’t like it, avoid contributing to the BS, be grateful for what you have, and find joy in doing your job. Let that keep your mind busy.
It’s really that simple.
XOXO
Dave
And now a few things to make you smarter…
Among publicly-listed U.S. companies, the 25 worst stocks have lost shareholders a collective $1.2 trillion since 1926. Put another way, just 0.1% of all stocks have led to 14% of all cumulative losses in shareholder wealth.
In this graphic, data cited from a source very near and dear to many FoDs (you know who you are) shows the worst stocks of the last century.
For most people, failure is pretty simple: it’s bad, even shameful. Life is going well if you’re not experiencing failures, and we think that avoiding failure is obviously the right goal. News flash: it’s not.
If you read last week’s preamble, you might agree that many of us are experiencing a bit of “pumpkin fatigue” these days — here’s how many of your favorite brands are positioning themselves to avoid the fall out.
Over the years, airline seats in economy class have only gotten smaller and more uncomfortable. But even among the crammed rows of the coach cabin, not all seats are born equal—there are some that are simply better than others. Here’s some tips on how to find them.
“Having short-term goals is good because it gets people going and might get people out of a rut.”
Our earliest years are marked by formal education and structure imposed by parents and other caretakers, not to mention a dedicated break in the form of summer vacation. By early adulthood — and beyond — we’re largely accountable for our time. What to do with this time can sometimes be a struggle if you don’t find an effective way to balance your short and long term personal and professional pursuits. Here’s one way to do it — revert back to what worked in your past.