I didn’t achieve what I wanted to over the past year. My goal was to create something that I could call my own that could be shareable with others. I didn’t manage to do it. I could blame the world for my own failure, but I would be lying to you and myself. Most people don’t create because they’re afraid of the judgement of others. I think what blocked me is different.
I fell into a more devious trap that I now see the majority of my peers falling into. I started to settle for what I deem a mediocre life. Work like a dog in the week, while resting, reading, and occasionally socializing on the weekend. I slowly started compromising on my dreams for what was just good enough. Friday started to look like the goal to reach rather than just another day in the week. The theme of this past year for me has been one thing.
CONSUME.
I estimate that in the past year, I have likely consumed a minimum of 832 hours of YouTube and Twitch combined, which is approximately 35 days of watch time. Here’s the calculation for those interested:
Weekday watch time = 2 hours/day (Monday-Friday - 5 days)
Weekend watch time = 3 hours/day (Saturday-Sunday - 2 days)
Weeks per year = 52
Weekday watch time = 52 weeks * 5 days/week * 2 hours/day = 520 hours
Weekend watch time = 52 weeks * 2 days/week * 3 hours/day = 312 hours
Total watch time = 832 hours = 34.667 days
I somehow managed to spend at least ~9% (34.6/365) of my year only consuming YouTube and Twitch. I am going to cut myself a little slack because a lot of what I do on YouTube is listen to podcasts or watch educational forms of content. The ROI on that learning has yielded enormous growth philosophically and monetarily. However, I still think this is an unhealthy amount of consumption, and I know the majority of it is not productive.
I know this seems like a roundabout and caveated way of telling you that I wasted my time this past year, but I think quantifying just how much time I wasted is important. Don’t forget, this calculation we just walked through only covers YouTube and Twitch. It doesn’t include the plethora of other time drains that exist (e.g., most but not all social media usage).
Time is the only resource that nobody can get more of. It’s like trying to catch air with your bare hands. Just as air is best enjoyed by breathing it in deeply, time is best enjoyed by experiencing the hours, minutes, and seconds most fully. If you pay no attention to air, you’ll still breathe it in, just as if you let time pass meaninglessly, it won’t stop and wait for you. The arrow of time flies in only one direction.
We’re a group of slightly more cognitively advanced chimps on a blue ball rotating around a fireball, and we’re all heading towards inevitable oblivion. I am already so insignificant, so I ask myself why waste the little time I do have in this black swan of a life. Some people might respond that wasting time is justified given the insignificance of everything anyway, but I’d like to believe that if there’s even an iota of a chance that I could achieve a nonlinear outcome in terms of impact, it’s worth trying.
So what’s next?
I am going to use the voice I have to discuss three topics in this order of importance:
Philosophy - not the existential bullshit but the practical kind that has helped me
Positive developments for humanity - this is a direct counter-attack against the view perpetuated by the media that the world is constantly burning, and it’s all going to shit
Investing - one of the few areas I feel has gone tremendously well for me
Why should you read what I write?
I want you to walk away from what I create going forward with one of these thoughts:
“I now have a new way to look at the world, life, or a problem.”
“I was introduced to something interesting today.”
“I could potentially make some money with this idea.”
“I have something new to talk about with my friends or family.”
“I feel better about the world I live in.”