Does Modern Society Bring Us More Joy Than Anxiety? | June, 2019
A Letter to My Future Self
Dear Zake,
I’m the 25-year-old version of you from 2019, how have you been?
Since 2015, I decided to take a day every month to reflect on work, life and thoughts, sharing with you. This is the 43rd mail I’m sending to you.
June — Does Modern Society Bring Us More Joy Than Anxiety?
Although the title is there, I don’t believe I have the credibility to answer the question.
We human are always searching for things that satisfy us and make us happy. Yet we never put happiness in front of many distractions and temptations. Money, fame, title and even other people’s opinion on us…
It becomes a habit that we always put out our phone, even when we have nothing to do on it. We still swipe up and down for couple times, then put it back to our pocket.
Sometimes, we open a social app to check if we are getting new messages, then the endless feed serves us so well that makes you never want to leave. So an instant boredom turns out to be consuming your over an hour, and you keep complaining that you are too busy, and don’t have time for many things.
The complaints accumulate day by day, and eventually you are suffering mental health problem, anxiety.
This is what happens to me in the past 6 months. I use work as an excuse, and try to make myself feel better.
But it won’t.
It won’t be solved until you are clear about top priority in your life, and say no to many other things.
Try this for couple days or months, and by then you should know the answer. At least you will know, what fuels you with enthusiasm, and what drains your energy every day. This is what I’ve been doing in the past month.
Work
Communication efficiency has always been a pain in the ass for our team. An international team with different office locations and working hours, the cost of organizing meetings and communicating is pretty high.
I realize the power of face-to-face conversation, sometimes your facial expressions and gestures also help you communicate the messages. However, it will never happen with a voice chat.
I spend half of the month in Taipei, the interactions and communications with the team becomes much closer and productive. When I have problems or questions, I can reach out to them directly (of course when they are not onto something more important, do not ruin other people’s workflow)
I feel the professionalism and dedication that the team has poured in each project, which empowers me to do the same.
Another thing I’ve been thinking lately is, what’s the future for smartphone, or more specific, what does the future look like for smartphone photography.
It seems that nowadays, everybody is holding a smartphone in their hands, everybody is taking photos with their smartphone. But the difference of using a $1,000 phone, or a $300 is limited. You can still call, text, surf the Internet, take good photos and play games with $700 saved in your pocket.
As the premium market price is growing every year, the difference between a premium and middle/low-end smartphone is narrow.
So here comes the question, if you will be satisfied with a $500 phone, why are you spending that extra $500? And am I making high-end premium products, only for rich people?
Life
I found the reason I procrastinate or quit creating content is that, I put too much pressure on myself and also I open too many projects at the same time.
And when I realize I cannot do it with the limited time, I go completely opposite way. I’d rather play games or watch random youtube videos.
My feeling won’t recover from playing games or watching videos, but they consume a lot of energy. In the end, I’m still upset with myself of not being able to create content, and anxiety accumulates.
And I decide I should do what I like and speak for myself.
During my free time, what I most likely to do is video production, doing outdoor sports and learning about self improvement. So I make the decision to push myself going swimming every morning, and document with the camera, then after a month-long shooting session, edit and produce an episode.
It’s a fun way of personal experiment, but also good way to practice mental clarity.
Here’s the last month 30-day challenge video: I went swimming for 2KM every morning for 30 days…
Following the routine and keeping myself accountable with a camera, also allows me, or push me, to say NO to many things.
If the event/meeting is irrelevant, I will take some time to think through, acknowledge the consequence and do it right away.
Always make the decision that’s aligned with your future plan, this is one of the easiest way to approach “digital minimalism”.
What I’m Digesting
1. Ramit Sethi — Automating Finances, Negotiating Prenups, Disagreeing with Tim
2. Akimbo: Norms and Rules
3. Aravind: Can you see this? Management, leadership and the power of vision
4. I TURNED MY TESLA INTO A PICKUP TRUCK
When I finish “What I’m Digesting” today, I realize there’s a format shift about the content I share.
As you might notice, when I just started this monthly review project back in 2015, almost all the content I recommended are articles and books. I checked my monthly review written in last year, it’s around half articles and half podcasts.
Today, I realize all my recommended content are actually podcasts and videos. I feel like the time we spend on traditional medium is losing its sparkle.
It’s getting harder for people to sit down and focus on a juicy article or book for couple minutes or an hour. While video can easily catch people’s attention within seconds.
I think what I want to say is that I should keep making videos, and believe it will all come back to me in the coming years.
Hey Zake from 2050, or whatever year you are, I hope you will find this email helpful and bring your some great memories. LIFE IS A DRUG, LOVE IT, LIVE IT.
Much love,
Zake
