Do Cool Things

Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

My personal philosophy to life has generally been to simply do cool things. By cool I don’t mean those Red Bull commercials where they jump a snowboard over 3 helicopters, as undeniably cool as that is, rather I mean to do fulfilling, engaging, and creative things.

But when does something become fulfilling? After all, there’s no lack of people who work a 9-5 developing a product with immense real-world value, yet feel stuck in their job, and increasingly distressed that when they get home all tired and devoid of motivation, that they’re wasting away their life - I should know, this was me just a couple of months ago (and every Monday still).

There’s also a huge number of people who spend all their free time on the weekends playing video games - only to feel like they achieved nothing and before they knew it, tomorrow is Monday again - also me!!

But I realized recently that there’s a trick to make things fun and fulfilling again, to re-ignite one’s curiosity and passion for learning and exploration; and what I personally discovered is, that I can make any task feel fulfilling if I can manage to meet certain criteria.

For a task/endeavor/exercise to feel fulfilling, it must:

• not be for someone else.
  • I don’t mean that there’s no fulfillment in charity work, rather that it shouldn’t be something you’re mandated to do by an employer, for example.
• not be for explicit personal gain.
  • by which I mean, things that are solely ways to vie for money or influence. There’s no denying the importance of money, but tasks that are strictly bound to it are pretty universally soul-crushing.
• be culturally or artistically enriching
  • music, art, literature, fashion, home-decor, cinema; anything that provides aesthetic and cultural value to you, your living space, and the content you consume.
• be intellectually enriching
  • equally fulfilling are those undertakings that provide intellectual value - new knowledge, skills, and awareness.
• be driven by unabashed curiosity
  • don’t hold back or weigh the importance of your raw, unfiltered curiosity. Read that article about the latest science news, look up how to make an app like the one you just saw, ask that stranger where he got his bag. There’s so much to be explored if only you stop limiting yourself to what you’re ‘supposed’ to be doing, which usually only entails your job or staying fed (eugh, depressing).
• be something you do proudly.
  • guilt, regret, disappointment, these things have no place in the pursuit of fulfillment. There’s always going to be personal projects you don’t finish, chores you don’t do correctly, art that’s not a masterpiece, and injuries. But the possibility of the aforementioned should not hold you back from doing things. Remember, they’re only a possibility, not inevitability, so although you don’t need to engage in wanton recklessness, don’t hold yourself back for the simple chance of failure.

I recognize that there are countless personal factors in everybody’s life that can seriously affect their own personal psychology when it comes to any of the above, this is simply what holds true for me. But I do have some confidence that there’s good odds in applying the same to yourself, and trying to do more and more things just for the hell of it, rather than as a chore or as instructed to do.

There are some common pitfalls that one might fall into when thinking about all this, so I’d also leave you with the following advice:

• Not all ‘cool’ endeavors need to be artistic!
  • I often hear people say that they can’t play an instrument, or paint - and that’s perfectly okay because there’s just as much value in studying science, fixing up your car, organizing your bookshelf or learning how to do your own eyebrows. Fulfillment is not bound by talent, and talent can be learned anyway.
• Your work doesn’t have to be public
  • If you’re unconfident in your art or writing, that’s okay because you’re not obliged to show or tell anybody.This is a seriously hard mindset to achieve, so genuinely, work for it, and be happy for yourself, even in secret.
• They don’t need to be time-bound
  • For some, time-management in itself could be a fulfilling endeavor, and that’s fine; but to most people, it can add undue pressure to attach a deadline to your passion projects. So if that sounds like you, simply take your time. It’s fine if your room takes 4 months to paint, as long as you can derive 5-15 minutes of joy out of doing it every week without feeling pressured to meet a deadline.

Once again, what worked for me might not work for everyone. But I wholeheartedly encourage you to explore by yourself and find your system, because there’s so much joy to be had in doing personally fulfilling things.