Trivial Pursuits

My goals are better than yours?

In our pretense of busyness, we’re prone to filling up the hours of our days with seemingly productive activities. A good day is one where we’ve managed to get shit done. Looking deeper, however— what, indeed, is this ‘shit’ that we talk about and how does getting it done help? Further, who decides the importance and priority of a range of varied, ‘shitty’ activities that we can choose to engage in?

The pursuit of trivial goals is scorned at — after all, we are human beings with no ceiling on our potential, and should, rightly so, pursue milestones made of nobler stuff. Make a dent in the universe — Jobs said. Hell, make a whole new universe — I can picture Musk saying. But who gets to decide what is trivial and what isn’t? Where is the dividing line?

If we’re talking about the absolute universe, isn’t every pursuit trivial? Conversely, in the context of a targeted niche, isn’t the smallest of pursuits to create value in their lives significant to them? Which lens do we look through?

So, here are some things that I don’t think are trivial:

• Seeking, if any, the meaning of life/existence
• Trying to understand (nearly impossible) the universe that we are a part of
• Growth, improvement and living a better, happier life
• Working on solutions to help others live a better life as well

Anything else, for me, is trivial.