Default Settings

Default settings are useful, but they’re not the ultimate truth.

I’m currently reading Jimmy Carr’s new book Before Laughter. I’m only halfway and already I’d highly recommend it.

It’s essentially a book about following your path in life - your own path and following it.

It got me thinking about creativity. Specifically, how creative we are in the paths we choose for our lives.

For a lot of us the paths we’re on are by default. They’re byproducts of default life advice from the generations above. More specifically, this translates to an education, a university degree and a job at a large company. 

There’s nothing inherently wrong with this advice. It’s pragmatic. And it allows you to equip yourself with the safety net you’ll need to play in the world’s game of capitalism. For an unmatured brain with limited life experience, it’s solid advice. Without it, you could end up completely lost.

The problem arises when this advice becomes gospel. The only and ultimate truth for all scenarios. Dogma.

From experience, what I’ve seen is that where’s there’s dogma, there isn’t much room for creativity. And if anything, creativity of thought or direction in environments that aren’t open to norms being questioned, is often met with resistance.

Transpose this on our educational systems and we end up with a focus on a set of traditional ways of thinking. They’re norms set to prepare us for a well-defined path. To remove ambiguity from the ages of 21 to 65.

But barring some exceptional teachers, what our educational systems don’t default towards is nurturing creativity. Creativity in our ways of thinking. Creativity in our ability to map out paths that might vary from the standard norm. We see this all the time when people experience the preverbal quarter life crisis.

It’s a point where we become aware of the disconnect between the default settings and how finely we want to tune our lives. A disconnect between the default settings and how we really want to experience our lives.

As I reflect on how this year has gone and how I map out the moves for the coming year, a chilling question keeps reoccurring.

I may be in the driving seat, but am I in the driving seat on a path of default or a path of choice and creativity?

Time will tell.