A few years back, I published an essay (inspired by a conversation I had with Micah Baldwin) about the idea of “your default.” Today, I visit a similar topic, reminded that everyone has idiosyncrasies that they default to in certain situations. Programming these instincts compounds over time.
What exactly do I mean by this?
Take the scenario of “idle time.” What do you do when you get home and you have nothing in particular to work on. Do you open up your phone? Your computer? Do you start browsing Instagram (aka playing the casino)? Do you read? Do you go work out? Do you open up Twitter? Do you take a nap?
Everyone has a default position. It is what you do when no other priorities get in the way of living.
I have been really interested in understanding my default instincts and unpacking why I do what I do and how I go about doing it.
My default has changed over the years…but nowadays I try to “default” to my curriculum.
My default has changed over the years…but nowadays I try to “default” to my personal learning curriculum – what I hope is a vehicle for purposeful, directional learning.
I think in the past, and some habit I am somewhat trying to break, is the defaulting to discovery. I think that many young people, myself included, have this routine of cycling through social media platforms and news pages and just constantly being fed information.
It is like going to a buffet of delicious content that never stops. Yet, while discovery is valuable, I need to narrow. I need to shift my lens and unlock compounding value by tunneling in on less things.
Understanding your default position helps you recover lost time so that you can ensure you are spending time in line with your priorities and beliefs.
Also published on Medium.