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Go Waste Your Time — Transcript

by Dr_Sofia · 4,899 words · 849 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:08We often encounter the phrase life is
0:11short on social media when someone
0:13encourages us to optimize our time
0:17or in everyday dialogue when someone
0:19implies that you should seize the day
0:22and realize that you don't have endless
0:24amounts of time.
0:26In this video, I will discuss the
0:28logical failure of that phrase.
0:32Expressions like life is really short or
0:35time goes by so fast before you realize
0:38it, life is over. If they were to make
0:41any sense logically, there would have to
0:44be a point of comparison, something that
0:47is a normal length or moves at a normal
0:49speed or at a slow speed, but that
0:53doesn't make any sense. There is nothing
0:56to compare life to. At least not within
0:59the same category. Life is its own
1:02category.
1:04Life can't be discussed as an object
1:07that you can compare to other objects
1:09with certain speeds, lengths, or
1:11durations.
1:13The expression is not based on an actual
1:16comparison of speed. We all know that.
1:19It is not intended as an empirical or
1:22logical statement. Instead, it exists to
1:26make you do something. The phrase is
1:29there to generate a feeling of urgency
1:32in you to make you act.
1:35And you find these kind of phrases
1:37everywhere. You find them on social
1:39media, people giving advice about how to
1:42start living efficiently earlier in your
1:45life. This is what I wish I knew in my
1:4820s and then they present mindset hacks.
1:52In an achievement-oriented
1:54environment, people feel a constant
1:57guilt, a feeling that they are behind,
2:00that we should even enjoy life faster.
2:02Those who capitalize on our experience
2:05that we are not doing enough, they
2:07promise us a quick fix instead of
2:10acknowledging that there might be a
2:11structural problem behind the attitude
2:14itself.
2:15This video is not about getting off the
2:18treadmill and learning to meditate and
2:21live in the moment. It is also not about
2:24anti-efficiency.
2:26Instead, we will analytically have a
2:28look at the life is short mindset. We
2:31will look at some alternatives to this
2:33stress-inducing paradigm, an open-ended
2:36experience of time. There is also a
2:39handout available about this content in
2:41the video descriptions with some further
2:44practical advice on the topic.
2:47Is there any situation where the life is
2:50short advice works to our benefit?
2:59We have established that the phrase is
3:01not logical or empirical, but
3:04rhetorical, designed to make you take
3:06action. Maybe in some cases it could be
3:10a reminder. If you really are a lazy ass
3:13person who is externally motivated and
3:15likes to have a kick in the ass to get
3:18moving and do something. Maybe. Or if
3:21you are in a dysfunctional relationship,
3:24it could be a good idea to get out early
3:26instead of letting years go by and
3:28calling it quits only after tolerating
3:31the situation for an extended period of
3:33time.
3:35But even in that case, sometimes we just
3:38need to experience how things unfold
3:40before we can really believe that
3:42something is not right for us, or before
3:45we can learn from it. Some things can't
3:48be explained. The learning happens on a
3:50slow, experience-based level, and we
3:53have to go completely inside the
3:55experience to fully understand it. But
3:58the problem with the life is short
4:00advice is not only that it might not be
4:03that helpful,
4:05it arises from a cultural mindset where
4:08life and time are treated as a commodity
4:11of utilization.
4:13Something you must use efficiently.
4:16Time itself is seen as a scarce resource
4:18that should be treated with care.
4:21That perspective on life makes me, at
4:24least, anxious.
4:26It does not seem accurate to view life
4:28as a chronologically progressing thing
4:31where you place experiences on a
4:33timeline and can plan meaningful things
4:36beforehand.
4:38If we approach life through the life is
4:41short mindset, valuable things might
4:44escape us. Inviting new experiences that
4:48we could not even imagine implies losing
4:51time or wasting time if we think about
4:54time through the mindset that we should
4:56optimize it based on a particular plan.
5:00Where does that plan come from?
5:03That plan is often an idea adapted from
5:06society. It could be about career
5:09success, a very specific path that is
5:11predefined and that we believe to be the
5:14only valid one.
5:16It could be about the sociological
5:18clock. We are supposed to partner up and
5:21have kids and send holiday cards and
5:24have a checklist of things that we
5:25achieve.
5:27But the experience of something being
5:30meaningful does not necessarily happen
5:33through realizing a predefined idea or
5:36achievement.
5:38Maybe meaningful things cannot even be
5:40planned or predicted. A new experience
5:43is, by definition, a new experience. It
5:47is a happy accident, someone we meet, a
5:50new person that suddenly comes our way,
5:53becomes our closest friend in just a few
5:55days, or a trip that goes wrong might
5:58lead you to totally new experiences, or
6:00a career that goes south might be
6:02replaced with something better, or the
6:05failure to follow the sociological clock
6:08might result in realizing that you have
6:11built a much more interesting life for
6:13yourself.
6:14Before we proceed, let's discuss where
6:17this life is short paradigm comes from.
6:29Life is short as an ideology arises from
6:32a specific zeitgeist.
6:35I will not say only Western culture
6:38since this has probably become somewhat
6:40global today. Some of its background can
6:43be traced back to a statement by
6:45Benjamin Franklin, the 18th century
6:48American statesman. His advice was,
6:51"Remember that time is money."
6:54He wrote it in an essay titled, "Advice
6:56to a Young Tradesman written by an old
6:59one." This was brought to light and
7:01critiqued by sociologist and economist
7:04Max Weber. He pointed out how capitalism
7:08turned time into a moral currency. The
7:11phrase "time is money" actually shifted
7:14the perspective on life.
7:17Time became something that we utilize
7:19and we ought to utilize time wisely.
7:23This is, according to Weber, the
7:25ultimate embodiment of modern
7:27capitalism.
7:29We have a moral duty not to waste time.
7:33It is part of the capitalist ethos, an
7:36unarticulated set of rules and
7:38expectations. Weber connected this
7:41mindset back to Protestant ethics, which
7:44taught that systematic, relentless labor
7:47was a sign of religious discipline and
7:50grace. So, this is what lies behind at
7:53least some of the mindset of modern
7:55economic systems.
7:57Several philosophers have critiqued this
7:59saying that we have ended up exploiting
8:02ourselves in the name of
8:03self-optimization.
8:05The commodifying idea of time is
8:08weaponized to make us feel guilty for
8:10not constantly producing, learning, or
8:14experiencing something quantifiable.
8:17Henri Bergson's concept of durée,
8:20duration, for example, suggests that
8:22measuring life by the clock is a
8:24mistake. When you are deeply immersed in
8:27an experience, time doesn't feel like a
8:30series of linear ticks. It feels
8:33continuous and whole.
8:35By treating time as a limited countdown
8:39clock, we step out of the experience and
8:42instead measure the experience.
8:45This destroys the depth of the moment.
8:49But the experience of time might also
8:51change throughout life. Many of you have
8:54probably heard theories about or
8:57observed that time feels different in
9:00childhood and adulthood. It seems to be
9:03slower in childhood and accelerate in
9:06[music] adulthood.
9:10>> [music]
9:13>> The acceleration of time is often
9:15presented as if it just happens
9:18naturally, that life seems endless in
9:21your childhood and still in your 20s and
9:23perhaps into your 30s. Then you start to
9:26realize that time is limited, that you
9:28don't live forever. And you might start
9:31to optimize more, be more picky about
9:34what you engage with, what you invest
9:36your time in. And this idea is one of my
9:39core issues, because I have also felt it
9:42a little bit. Yet I do not agree that it
9:45is the only possible way of experiencing
9:48life, even if it is sometimes framed as
9:50a positive thing that you start to
9:52invest your time and energy in wiser
9:55ways. I don't want to feel that way. It
9:58feels like some of life's magic
10:00disappears.
10:02Thinking about a linear lifeline towards
10:04an end and perceiving time as a limited
10:08commodity, a chronologically progressing
10:11entity, feels demotivating.
10:14Not because we should believe that we
10:15live forever, but because treating time
10:18like that might rule out the possibility
10:21of things unfolding in deeply and
10:23completely new ways,
10:25in endlessly unexpected ways.
10:28I wanted to explore if that change in
10:31attitude is a natural fact, something
10:33that necessarily happens to us over the
10:35years,
10:37or if it is also actually tied to a
10:39cultural belief system, a cultural
10:42experience of a timeline.
10:45Is it possible to stick to wasting your
10:49time and engaging with non-optimized
10:52activities, just like in childhood, and
10:55continue having brand new experiences,
10:59continue having that feeling that time
11:01is endless or open-ended? In the light
11:04of Bergson's concept of durée, the
11:07experience of time is not inherently
11:10linear,
11:11and a deep experience unfolds as
11:13significance beyond a chronological
11:16timeline. We don't perceive time
11:19mechanically.
11:21Maybe the experience that time is
11:23endless allows us to go deeper and more
11:26sincerely into new experiences, since we
11:29are not afraid of wasting time.
11:32And psychology does support this.
11:35But first, there is also a more time
11:37chronological or mathematical approach
11:40to this topic of the acceleration of
11:42time, the proportionality theory,
11:45developed by philosopher Paul Janet in
11:481897.
11:50He claims that the brain calculates time
11:53proportionally.
11:54Our perception of time is relative to
11:57the total amount of time we have already
11:59lived. When you are 10 years old, 1 year
12:02counts as 10% of your whole life so far,
12:05while when you are 50, 1 year counts as
12:08only 2% of your life.
12:10But this is not the prominent theory in
12:13psychology today.
12:15Cognitive psychology favors memory
12:18density theories. Your brain measures
12:21time retrospectively based on the number
12:24of new memories you form. In youth,
12:27everything happens for the first time.
12:29Your first day of school, first
12:32heartbreak, learning to drive, moving
12:34out. The brain processes a lot of new
12:37data creating dense clusters of
12:39memories.
12:41When you look back, that period feels
12:43incredibly long.
12:45In adulthood, as people settle into
12:47careers and domestic routines, novelty
12:50drops drastically. It could be called
12:53the routine trap. If every day is
12:56identical from Monday to Friday, the
12:59brain compresses them into a single
13:01file. At the end of a year, you look
13:04back and feel like it flew by because
13:07there are very few unique memory
13:09markers.
13:11The experience of the acceleration of
13:13time is mostly driven by routine and
13:16predictability,
13:18not just biology.
13:20When every day looks the same, your
13:22brain stops recording new memories. When
13:26you look back, the lack of distinct
13:28mental landmarks creates the illusion
13:31that time simply vanished.
13:34This can introduce urgency or panic. It
13:37can introduce FOMO.
13:39I believe the life is short statement
13:42arises from a similar anxiety or mindset
13:45where routinized patterns have taken
13:48place.
13:50Where time is not open-ended, but
13:52limited and appears in reference to
13:54certain goals.
13:56And maybe the experience of time
13:58accelerates even more when trying even
14:01more linearly to optimize the journey
14:04towards certain goals.
14:06You should be more efficient in your
14:08experiences. The more you try to manage
14:11time to ensure you don't waste it, the
14:14more stressful and empty life actually
14:17feels.
14:19Is it then the case that time slows down
14:22and experiences go deeper if you do the
14:25opposite? If you actually do waste your
14:28time?
14:30And wasting is here defined as not
14:32optimizing your progression towards
14:34culturally defined life goals. Is it
14:37possible to counteract that paradigm
14:40itself?
14:42Before answering, let's talk about aging
14:45as part of the life is short narrative.
14:53>> [music]
14:58>> When the word aging is used in a Western
15:01culture way, it sounds like decaying,
15:04something reducing in quality, like the
15:07condition of a person somehow gets worse
15:10or weaker.
15:12Obviously, this is related to the
15:14cultural idealization of youth.
15:17But the problem here is not merely that
15:20we lack respect for the elderly and
15:22their wisdom in Western culture, even
15:25though that might be factual.
15:27When discussing aging, it is
15:30automatically assumed that the body
15:32slowly decays and becomes less perfect
15:35and functional. This is a culturally
15:38internalized worldview.
15:40It is present in medicine, how the body
15:43is examined, often isolated from
15:45context.
15:47It's treated like a problem, something
15:50that collects problems that we then try
15:52to solve. How the focus is on the
15:55defects of the body, not its potentials.
15:58And we are recommended to try to
16:00maintain these bodies in good condition
16:03for as long as possible until the
16:05decaying starts.
16:07These cultural ideas are present in the
16:10very language we use, even in how the
16:13word aging might feel to us when we say
16:16it out loud. Many of you probably have
16:19completely other experiences of existing
16:23as an embodied being.
16:25I do not resonate with that view myself.
16:28I feel the same amount of energy,
16:30strength, and health as 15 years ago.
16:32Only now there are fewer stressors and
16:35tensions.
16:36So, let's reverse it. And I'm talking
16:39about possibilities.
16:41What if your physical condition becomes
16:44more and more optimized?
16:46You have learned how to adapt, solve
16:49things, integrate into the world, and
16:51coordinate your way through a variety of
16:53situations.
16:55You become more and more precise in how
16:57you deal with things. You use less and
17:00less energy on navigating basic
17:03situations.
17:04And that might show on many levels,
17:07including your stress levels. Your
17:09cortisol levels decrease. You might have
17:12more energy and flexibility. You might
17:15sleep better.
17:17In the worldview that's a body decays,
17:20the reference point is usually the
17:23average Western body. And that body is
17:26naturalized and treated as a fact, as a
17:29source of general knowledge about bodies
17:32and aging.
17:34That body does indeed decay.
17:38Due to a poor diet, toxic environments,
17:41constant stressors, codependent
17:44lifestyles, lack of physical engagement,
17:48lack of new challenges, lack of personal
17:51agency, and a hedonistic lifestyle
17:54resulting in a sluggish, blown-up body
17:57full of inflammation.
17:59That is likely to generate bad
18:01conditions over time. The perceived
18:04relationship between aging and decaying
18:08that is common in our culture is at
18:11least partly a result from the Western
18:14lifestyle.
18:16This could be called the accumulation
18:18model.
18:19The body accumulates illnesses.
18:22The body is treated as a commodity. In
18:26youth, it has high value because it has
18:28not decayed yet.
18:31>> [music]
18:34>> As it ages, it is viewed as a collection
18:37of accumulated damages [music] and
18:39chronic conditions. It becomes heavy,
18:42rigid, and disoriented.
18:46Many Eastern traditions, like Taoism and
18:49Qigong or martial arts, view the body as
18:52a landscape to be cultivated.
18:55Aging isn't about collecting illnesses.
18:58It is about refinement, discarding what
19:01is not needed, and mastering the
19:03efficiency of movement. It's about
19:05becoming so hyper-optimized
19:08that maximum results are achieved with
19:11zero wasted effort. Several Western
19:14philosophers have acknowledged the lack
19:16of a proper framework for discussing
19:18aging in a sense where the body is not
19:21objectified.
19:23Some have turned to concepts from
19:25Eastern traditions to find material and
19:28ways of thinking about this topic.
19:30Western science lacks a framework for a
19:33body that self-regulates
19:35and improves with age, rather than a
19:38body that is just an object to be
19:40measured and medicated. The body has
19:43been treated as detached from thinking,
19:47not as a part of our orientation in the
19:49world, and not as the ground for
19:51cultivating thinking, being, and
19:54exploring.
19:55Several philosophers from the past
19:57century have pointed out this
19:59disconnect. Often the phenomenologist
20:02Maurice Merleau-Ponty is mentioned.
20:05Also, philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy offers
20:08interesting insight to this detachment.
20:10He claims that there has never been any
20:13body in philosophy in the West.
20:16Relating to this topic, he also
20:18addresses how stress accumulates in the
20:20Western body and how it is a result from
20:23the detachment.
20:25Other names that you can look into if
20:27this is of interest are philosopher
20:30Richard Shusterman and his concept of
20:33somaesthetics.
20:35And the biochemist Ida Rolf, who also
20:38critiques the idea about chronological
20:41aging. She rejects the standard medical
20:44habit of looking at the body as a
20:46collection of separate parts or isolated
20:49symptoms.
20:51To her, the human body is a highly
20:53plastic, flexible, adaptable, and
20:56interconnected web. She talks about
20:59structural integration.
21:02And these are not new-age holistic
21:04theories, but theories within research
21:07and academia.
21:09A further interesting bias in this
21:11discussion is that being negative toward
21:15ideas about aging is often framed as a
21:18fear of death or the idealization of
21:21youth.
21:22But I want to challenge that a bit and
21:25have a sympathetic attitude toward that
21:27negativity.
21:29Of course people feel threatened by the
21:31very word aging when it has all these
21:34terrible meanings and the reference body
21:37for aging is an inflamed, puffy,
21:40disoriented object that collects
21:43illnesses.
21:45Nobody wants that.
21:47Yet with that lifestyle and disembodied
21:50mindset, the body might age in these
21:53ways.
21:54The body might accumulate tension
21:56because it operates under constant
21:59internal friction, treated as a physical
22:02commodity that is running out of time.
22:05Maybe this also affects the view that
22:08life is short.
22:10If life is lived through a body that
22:12constantly seeks out new experiences and
22:15adapts to new situations, refining and
22:19optimizing itself, time is even more
22:22open-ended than we actually imagine.
22:24Even the body's possibilities are, in a
22:27way, open-ended.
22:39Let's return to the statements, "Life is
22:42short and don't waste your time."
22:45We have established that the
22:47proportionality theory is not an
22:49absolute truth.
22:51We do not experience time faster and
22:53faster as a biological certainty.
22:56Rather, it is the density of new
22:58experiences that make certain periods of
23:01life feel longer.
23:03Further, approaching life with the
23:05mindset that time is open-ended allows
23:08you to enter new experiences more fully,
23:11which is how things become meaningful.
23:14We can let ourselves be absorbed by
23:16something without worrying that we are
23:18wasting time. And we have established
23:22that our development throughout life as
23:25an embodied being can be viewed as
23:27open-ended. The body is not a vehicle
23:30with limited resources and health. It is
23:33forever adapting and refining.
23:36Yet, the life is short approach is often
23:39so deeply internalized that it is
23:42difficult to detach from it.
23:44How can we do that? What makes this
23:47slightly more complex is that the
23:49opposite of the Western commodifying
23:52understanding of time is often presented
23:54as stepping off the treadmill, taking a
23:58moment, walking in nature, and thinking
24:01about what is really meaningful in life,
24:04going on meditation retreats.
24:07That might sound good, but there is
24:09something romanticized about it.
24:12Those ideas arise from the exact same
24:15framework as the rat race culture and
24:18burnout culture. They are merely offered
24:20as a solution to the stress without
24:23changing the foundational ideas that
24:25created the the
24:26in the first place.
24:29I don't know if this resonates with you,
24:31but to me withdrawal in this sense
24:34sounds passive, self-protective, and
24:37even unenticing.
24:39What if I don't want to step back in
24:41that sense?
24:43What if I love being completely absorbed
24:46by a project? Many of us like
24:47problem-solving, even working to the
24:50limits of exhaustion, expanding our own
24:53scope of possibilities.
24:55Is that a problem?
24:57I do not agree that working efficiently
25:00or optimizing is necessarily part of the
25:03hamster wheel culture.
25:05There is no inevitable connection
25:08between efficiency and the
25:10commodification of time. There can be,
25:13but it is not a structural absolute.
25:16This is where many of us become
25:18confused.
25:20We find ourselves in a space where we
25:22feel forced to choose between the
25:24unhealthy, time should not be wasted
25:28mindset, and a mindset where we must be
25:30anti-efficient and step off the hamster
25:33wheel.
25:34I'm happy to walk in nature, and I do it
25:36all the time, or cycle in the
25:38countryside, but not as an act of
25:41peaceful withdrawal or relaxation.
25:45So, let's completely detach efficiency
25:48and optimization from the hamster wheel.
25:51Because we could also just optimize our
25:54life precisely to be able to engage with
25:56new experiences.
25:58Having a tidy apartment means you never
26:01have to waste time looking for things,
26:03or you might want to create your own
26:05work uniform to reduce decision fatigue
26:09and the cognitive load of deciding what
26:11to wear.
26:13Let's look at this graph.
26:15On the top, we have three different
26:17situations.
26:19On the left is the neoliberal rat race,
26:22the mindset where the life is short
26:25paradigm flourishes.
26:27In the middle, we have the romantic
26:29retreat.
26:30This is where someone tries to solve the
26:33treadmill culture, the mental overload
26:36by withdrawing to relax.
26:38Obviously, there is nothing wrong with
26:41relaxation, but we are talking about
26:43culturally romanticized ideas that only
26:46treat the symptom, not the cause.
26:49On the top right, we have the approach
26:52that I suggest in this video as
26:54desirable.
26:55The open-ended time approach where we
26:59are constantly developing our skills,
27:01abilities, and worldview.
27:03We are not afraid of wasting time on
27:06something that is not optimal in
27:08reference to a certain goal defined by
27:10the rat race.
27:12What actions are taken in these
27:14situations? In the rat race, actions are
27:17hyperactive and hyperlinear.
27:21We view life through certain ideals,
27:24often adapted from society, a
27:26sociological clock, and specific ideas
27:29about a successful life.
27:31Time is viewed as a limited commodity,
27:34and we organize our activities according
27:37to those predefined goals.
27:39In the middle, we counteract that
27:42hyperactive state by taking a passive
27:45approach.
27:46We withdraw to figure things out. Again,
27:50this is not negative in itself. It just
27:53doesn't change the initial paradigm that
27:56created the problem.
27:58On the right, actions are also
28:00hyperactive,
28:02or they can be,
28:04just like on the left. But, they are
28:06open-ended rather than linear.
28:09We can be hyperactive with something
28:11that does not directly serve the
28:14predefined ideas of societal life goals.
28:17We can work toward goals even
28:19fanatically, but they arise from a less
28:22linear mindset.
28:25You won't get burned out here because
28:27your navigation tool is not
28:29externalized.
28:30On the left, the mindset of the rat race
28:33is extremely efficient and intended to
28:36hit known predefined targets. In the
28:40middle, time is non-efficient since we
28:42are escaping stress and trying to do the
28:45exact opposite of what we did on the
28:48hamster wheel.
28:49On the right, we also have the
28:51possibility of extreme efficiency. We
28:54can, for example, maintain a very
28:56well-planned infrastructure to unlock
28:59the time and space of the unknown,
29:02giving us more room to explore.
29:05We can also constantly develop new
29:07strategies when taking on new goals to
29:10optimize our learning.
29:12Let's say you have to learn a new
29:14creative editing program, whether for
29:18sound or video.
29:19You realize that you will be able to
29:21work much faster if you take 15 minutes
29:25to learn the keyboard shortcuts instead
29:27of finding things in the menu or even by
29:30creating your own shortcuts.
29:32You practice them for a moment to get
29:34them into your muscle memory.
29:36That is optimizing the process so that
29:39you can focus better and more
29:41efficiently on the task you are working
29:43on.
29:44The result of these three situations is
29:47on the left, we have somatic rust,
29:51the detached body, the linear
29:54understanding of time, and a loss of
29:56depth in our experiences because we
29:59don't let ourselves go properly into
30:01them.
30:02We are just measuring value based on
30:04finishing tasks and achieving what we
30:07planned. Here, we also find the idea
30:10that aging means decaying and that the
30:13body is a limited resource.
30:16In the middle, the romantic retreat, we
30:19have withdrawal and possibly passive
30:22thinking as the outcome
30:25since we are not actively exploring and
30:27changing the paradigm itself, but merely
30:31relaxing and finally getting a moment to
30:33ourselves. It remains a reaction to the
30:36burnout culture.
30:38On the right side, in the open-ended
30:40approach, we have integration,
30:42increasing precision in how we navigate
30:45the world, and we experience things that
30:48we could not imagine beforehand.
30:51Life surprises us.
30:53Because we do not view time linearly,
30:56and we are not afraid of wasting it,
30:59those experiences are allowed to unfold.
31:02Based on this, efficiency, optimization,
31:06or strategy are not the problem.
31:09Not even fanatically working on a
31:11project.
31:12That's also not a problem.
31:15The problem is the linear view of life
31:17and time.
31:19The commodifying view,
31:21where the course of events and the value
31:24of achievements are predefined.
31:27This graph was developed specifically
31:29for this video. It is not from any book
31:31or existing model.
31:33No, it is an existing model.
31:36So, how can we enter from the linear
31:39active state into the open-ended active
31:43state?
31:44I will illustrate a way of breaking with
31:46linearity through a method from my
31:49profession as a composer. It is a
31:52technique called montage technique.
31:59>> [music]
32:06>> As opposed to thinking about musical
32:09processes as a linear development, where
32:11you are figuring out what comes next,
32:14which is much more the logic of tonal
32:16musical systems, or a linear
32:19understanding of music, this is the art
32:22of composing by cutting, pasting,
32:25juxtaposing,
32:26or layering distinct sound objects,
32:30samples, or noises that you have found.
32:33The word montage comes from French, and
32:36it means assembling or editing. Just as
32:39a visual montage can consist of separate
32:42film shots or photos, a musical montage
32:46is a unified piece or texture made out
32:49of a variety of audio fragments.
32:52The result, however, often sounds
32:54integrated and the listener does not
32:57necessarily know what technique was
32:59used.
33:00I believe this has always been used even
33:03in functional harmonics or melodic
33:06lines. While that is the result we hear,
33:10there can be a messy non-linear process
33:13behind it that brought it into
33:15existence.
33:16Montaging is not the whole process,
33:19though.
33:20When the material starts to sound
33:22cohesive, you should not stop there. The
33:25best things happen after when you start
33:28to create incoherency
33:31within the system.
33:32An element that goes on for slightly too
33:35long or you punctuate holes in the
33:38material.
33:39Something that captures the attention
33:41because it sounds weird, but it can only
33:44sound weird because the system itself is
33:46already cohesive.
33:48Montage technique is obviously a method
33:51that you can use in many disciplines and
33:53it is also just a method to get started
33:56with a project. To overcome
33:58procrastination or writer's block, you
34:01can start writing by bringing in a
34:03variety of text fragments, quotes and
34:05ideas that are vaguely related like a
34:08patchwork and observe what connections
34:11emerge between them.
34:14This can also be a life method and a way
34:16of doing things without considering them
34:19a waste of time.
34:21Your past choices and experiences might
34:24carry value even if they do not fit
34:27perfectly into a specific linear life
34:30plan.
34:31Think back on your activities.
34:34Most things have likely not remained
34:36completely without meaning, but have
34:38added to your perspective.
34:41Maybe you have several educations, or
34:43you have had many professions.
34:46Trips that went wrong.
34:48People who accidentally came your way.
34:51Almost everything we do somehow comes to
34:54make sense later, or it contributes to
34:57other things that we do simultaneously.
35:00If you are a doer, you know that in many
35:03ways things begin from doing.
35:06Even thinking begins from doing, even
35:09before planning. You don't know what is
35:12best for you until you do something.
35:14And this is where the logic of a montage
35:17lifestyle can function as a tool to
35:19break with the linear rat race mindset.
35:22With the rat race mindset, it is already
35:25determined what you are supposed to do,
35:28or you are expected to know exactly what
35:30you want in 10 years.
35:32But we don't know. We don't even know
35:34what is good for us.
35:36Because of this, it might be a better
35:39idea to just keep doing and exploring.
35:42And yes, maybe you would end up as a
35:44hyper specialized professor in a field
35:47sooner if you didn't take any detours.
35:51But my position is very clear that that
35:54is not necessarily where the most
35:56interesting ideas come from.
35:59They come from the gray zone, the
36:01surprises,
36:03the things that we could not predict.
36:06Also, significant statistics prove that
36:09late blooming is even good for careers.
36:12After messing around, making mistakes,
36:15developing your knowledge and
36:17resilience, you have much more
36:19interesting things to offer, and you are
36:21more likely to succeed. In the USA, the
36:24most successful startups are started at
36:27the age of 45 on average. And comparing
36:31different age groups, a startup
36:34initiated by someone in their 60s is
36:37three times more likely to succeed than
36:40one initiated by someone in their 30s.
36:44This data completely dismantles the myth
36:46of the hyper-successful 20-something
36:49college dropout who starts early and
36:52thus ends up on top.
36:55Our ability to hold the tension of not
36:58exactly knowing where life is going to
37:00take us might be a superpower.
37:04An open-ended, non-linearly happening
37:07life will probably reveal its colors in
37:10a million different ways, and you get to
37:12contribute your unique perspective that
37:15you have collected throughout your life,
37:17including from all the detours.
37:20I once heard someone say, "May your
37:23dreams not come true. May something you
37:26never dreamed about happen instead."
37:38So, go waste your time. Life is not
37:41short, and instead of being a treadmill
37:44optimizer, be a doer. You can begin
37:48doing something before you know what it
37:50will mean.

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