Recently, I spoke with a client about “death” and whether or not it is a good life motivator. On one side, we don’t want to die, but ultimately we will die, and it is unavoidable. Still, a lot of people don’t want to consider their death, or any other potential harm to themselves and people we care about, in which case death has a negative effect on our psyche, and henceforth negatively affects our motivation, productivity, health, and many other aspects of life.
On the other hand, some people are motivated by the perspective of death and they decide to live their lives to the fullest. After all, we only live once, so might as well enjoy it, right? A famous example of this is Steve Jobs, along with many other success stories, lost one or both of their parents at an early age. They decided to live life to the fullest and make the most of the short time we have while alive. This motivation, driven by the reality of death, was what ultimately contributed to their success stories.
However, what motivates me personally the most is a third perspective, and it is that it doesn’t really matter what we do in the grand scheme of things. We can go left or right, it’s all the same. Eat, or not, sleep or not, and virtually anything else, it doesn’t matter what we do. Of course, ultimately, we want to do the right actions and avoid the negative ones as much as possible because it will lead to our best possible life, but since we can never ultimately guarantee the desired outcome, we shouldn’t obsess about living our life in a specific way.
In other words, we should work to achieve the best possible results, but we should not set any expectations. In this way, we will never be surprised or disappointed, as we will always accept the world as it is, ultimately realizing that we don’t have any real control over it. Again, we can and should try to achieve what we ultimately want, but whether we actually achieve it or not is never guaranteed, and being overly attached to a certain outcome is a sure way to become unhappy, which on a side note is one of the big reasons why so many people are unhappy today.
Another advantage I notice by living this way is that we stop overthinking, and therefore make decisions faster and better execute whatever plans we have, because sometimes being overly attached to a certain outcome can lead to procrastination, overthinking, worrying, and simply not doing what we need to do. On the other hand, by just jumping and doing what needs to be done, we get automatic feedback about whether it was a right action or not anyway, so we fail fast forward and ultimately hopefully create more good than bad.
Furthermore, we are ants on the size of the universe, and to think that our decisions matter is funny at best, because any footprint we will leave will ultimately evaporate given enough time, so all worries, concerns, and plans we have are ultimately meaningless, so being overly attached to them is madness.
Speaking of the universe, if you believe in God and parallel universes, then going left or right doesn’t matter, because your actions are predetermined by fate, chance, or you will do an opposite action in a parallel universe anyway, so again it doesn’t matter what you do.
Here I’m not suggesting going overboard, becoming reckless, taking over the edge risk, or doing something immoral or illegal, as this certainly will lead to a negative outcome and therefore unhappiness. Furthermore, you will completely miss the point I’m trying to make. I’m saying, do your best to win in life, but whether you win or lose, don’t become overly happy or sad by results.
Now, I’m sure you are surprised to read these words on a happiness blog, but actually, this philosophy is liberating. After all, whether things are going good or bad, I’m always enjoying my life to the fullest, which is the actual recipe for Optimal Happiness. If you can truly live in this way, then you will be forever happy, regardless of what may come.
So if I can leave you with any sort of last words of wisdom, it is this: all our worries, concerns, and plans are ultimately meaningless, so being overly attached to any outcome is madness. Instead, enjoy your life to the fullest in any shape it may come and keep pushing for more. Aim to make positive decisions, and avoid negative ones, and you will live your best possible life today.
Happiness 100% guaranteed.
6 thoughts on “Why It Doesn’t Matter What We Do Anyway”
The ideal way of being
Let your dreams soar in the sky
But stay firmly grounds in order not to lose yourself in the ways of the world. Thank you for sharing.
“A map of the world that does not include utopia is not worth even glancing at” – Oscar Wilde
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Great job again! Your work never fails to impress me. Your insights are excellent, Roman. Keep up the fantastic work!
Thank you for your continuous support, Lumen! Actually, what I write is easy, or as I say: it is hard, but not difficult. To sum it up, happiness is one thing and one thing only. Yes, there are many ways we can become happy, but they are all part of an overarching happiness formula, which is one. It is complex enough that most people can’t simply figure it out (it’s difficult), but we don’t need, let’s say AI, to figure it out (so it’s not hard). Once I had this formula down, every blog post will be on point, as long as I’m not lazy to write them out in enough detail, hehe. I’ll keep up the good work, I promise!
Great article – One of the most powerful quotes I have ever read came from Mark Mansons book “The Simple Art of not Giving a f” where he says – “If there really is no reason to do anything, then there is also no reason to not do anything; that in the face of the inevitability of death, there is no reason to ever give into one’s fear or embarrassment or shame, since it’s all just a bunch of nothing anyway”. This article does a great job of expanding on that – great read
Lately, I’ve been toying with the idea of the law of attraction as energy fields, which smarter and more enlightened people than me say exist. In this perspective, the universe gives us what we want, so “it doesn’t matter anyway” because the only thing that matters is our desires and what we put into the universe. The past only shows what we ought to want, as long as we don’t cloud it with our prejudice. Overall, this similarity with Mark Manson’s book gives me motivation because it confirmed that everything written here is correct. Thank you!