How to Create Meaning in your Life

Become unrecognisable in under 6 months

The biggest problem facing humanity is not climate change. It’s not population collapse. It’s not AI. It is a crisis of meaning and purpose.

The reason you feel like something is missing is because you have been sedated.

Modern technology has evolved so rapidly that it has removed the feeling of community and the need to create.

Without community and creativity is life even worth living?

The unspoken reason that people are so terrified of A.I. is not that it will take over the world. They are terrified to become one of the millions of people who no longer have a productive purpose in life.

Technology changes human psychology does not.

Passive Over-consumption

The reason you feel adrift at sea with no land insight is passive overconsumption. You and I were built to create and to contribute in a meaningful manner.

That is what culture is. Culture is the sum of peoples creativity scorched into the passage of time. it’s what I call history and I crave to be a part of it.

Excessive Consumption is a sedative. Content is a drug.

If you can micro-dose mushrooms you can micro-dose content.

Self control is the most underestimated super power in the digital age.

Over eating. Excessive screen time. Obsessive social media use. Alcohol. Porn. Cigarettes . Over consumption is fanning the flames of psychological compulsions and addictions. The desperate chase for cheap dopamine has blunted focus and numbed connection.

The digital imitations of love, connection and meaning give us just enough to numb  our pain but not enough to achieve fulfilment.

You have been sedated out of a meaningful life.

So this might seem a little Melo-dramatic. But it’s important for me to dig into the problem so we know what we’re dealing with.

The good news?

This very technology has created a simple path to meaning. Follow your interests. Write about them. Share them online. Gain feedback. Help people throughout the process. Create a self reinforcing positive feedback loop. This is the holistic process of meaning that no one talks about.

You are not a passive victim devoid of agency. You have a choice each and every day.

In order to create you do first need to consume. Consumption is like the petrol station at the side of the road. You need to fill up now and then but the majority of your time is spent moving towards creation.

If you have spent years in passive consumption it will require a lot of effort to get out of this mindset at the beginning.

Here are 6 steps to escape the passive consumption death spiral and move towards holistic creativity.

Step 1. Self awareness

You cannot remedy a problem if you don’t know what the problem is.

Become aware of the mechanisms behind consumption. Consumption is the symptom what is the cause? How do you feel after scrolling through instagram? Why do you feel that way? What hole is the chocolate cake trying to fill? Why are you eating when you are not even hungry? Emotional needs are driving your behaviour. You must pick apart and examine your own behavioural tendencies.

True self awareness comes through self knowledge - this is a life long journey which never ends. The fatal mistake made by most is to treat self knowledge and self awareness as a small project. Most people read a few books they journal for a few weeks. Thy try to start one project.

Smart individuals understand that the greatest adversary in life. The thing which holds them back every time is themselves. Self awareness is the hardest and most important step to transcending passive consumption. You should spend a lot of time on this.

Step 2. Study Human psychology

A brutal truth that I have come to accept is: you are not as unique as you think you are. That is worth repeating. If you are not unique you are not special. But if you are not special it also means you are not alone.

This has two tangible benefits.

Number 1

You are not the only one going through your own particular problem. When you get over the depressive nature of this thought and engage your curiosity you will quickly find that thousands of people share similar thoughts and feelings. In that alone there is a meaning and a purpose to be found.

Number 2

If you find people who are going through a similar problem and can help them through that problem they will trust, respect and want to help you in return. The vast majority of people are good and will engage in this virtuous cycle.

Step 3. Study Marketing

Marketing and psychology and two faces of the same coin. Studying Psychology is food for your intellectual curiosity. Marketing is how to apply and monetise that knowledge in the real world.

Learn how master marketers manipulate human psychology to move markets. By studying marketing, story telling and branding you begin to see the world for what it is and in so doing distance yourself from the masses.

This applied knowledge is one of the most effective ways that you can make yourself stand out. The best Marketers create a need which did not exist prior.

If you need an example look up the De Beers Group - a South African/British corporation that specialises in diamond mining.

Why do people spend billions of dollars on engagement rings every year? It’s because that need was created by a De Beers Group marketing campaign. “A diamond is forever” has been rated as one of the best marketing slogans of the 20th century.

Marketing based on human psychology can change the course of culture. If you want to get your message out there and engage with other like minded people you have to learn marketing.

Step 4. Consume strategically

True innovation is a process of iteration. As a beginner you start with imitation. You see something you like and you try to reproduce it by copying what you see. That is the basis of art, design and basically the entirety of human culture.

With time, experimentation and increased skill you begin to reach the point of innovation. This is where things flow naturally and seamlessly and you start to come up with novel ideas.

If you want to progress past the stage of imitation you have to consume what the majority are not. This is as much about the medium and context as it is about the actual content.

If everyone is getting their information from social media, you need to find different sources of information. Go to the library, visit museums, travel to different countries.

What used to be normal, is now unusual. Lean into that. If you’ve lived in a foreign country or you speak a foreign language you already have a massive advantage. Exposure to novel experience will spark novel ideas.

When you read books highlight passages of interest and take notes. Turn a passive act of mindless consumption into an active act of self education.

In the digital age of the internet information is free. When things are free it lowers the barrier to entry and it lowers the quality of the information. This requires increased mental capacities to sift, dissect and discard anything that does not immediately seem of value to you.

If you struggle to use social media to your benefit delete it. if you compulsively reach for your phone lock it away. Restrict cheap dopamine access in the pursuit of deep and long lasting fulfilment.

Step 5. Start a project

The act of Learning cannot be done in the theoretical. It must be tested out in the real world.  Knowledge, ideas, thoughts. These are worthless without execution.

The fastest way to learn is to implement. If you want to learn more about a topic teach it. If you want to learn about marketing try to market something. Consumption and creation exist on a scale. Only consume in order to create. Transcend your consumption into value by creating something and sharing it with the world.

Step 6. Transcend consumerism. Double down on creation

People don’t understand just how important it is to have a project running. Having a project like a newsletter, a business, or a creative outlet changes your relationship with consumption.

You consume in oder to create. Your project guides your consumption habits. It turns compulsive addictions into valuable habits. Consumption becomes an act of creativity when it sparks new ideas in your mind.

This is all mental gymnastics. Consumption is necessary for production. But in order to consume actively with a goal in mind you have to have a vision and you have to have a project up and running.

If you had to choose, would you rather be the mother or the infant? The provider or the receiver? The producer or the consumer?

One affords control, growth and fulfilment the other dependance, helplessness and  insecurity.

Follow these steps. Learn. Build. Implement. Strategy and execution are so important when starting something new.

We are going to talk about building a vision in 2 or 3 letters from now. My next letter will go into how to get started, why “just start” is terrible advice and how to set yourself up for success.

That’s it for now.

Take it easy and I’ll speak to you in the next one.

Benjamin