A tale of blank pages

Here is the problem at hand: the hustle culture as we know it sucks. Right. Generations before us had already figured this out; we are only more vocal about it because we have social media to share our grumpiest thoughts. For many centuries, across many cultures, our value has been directly connected to our productivity. Work is the mean and the end; success and retirement are the long-term plan duo of the hivemind's dream life. There's a somewhat repeating script laid out before you the moment you are born. It maps expectations for the ideal life: grow up, get educated, find love, build a family, find success, reap the results of your hard-earned financial security. Miss crossing one item on the list and you become the outlier. Failing in The Game of Life.

At some point, though, we get old enough to realize success is a fleeting thing. Mid-life crisis or whatever you want to call it. The paralyzing realization that happiness, whatever happiness is, is in so many moments and nuances of life. Happiness is not in something you can afford, or in someone else, or in a job you wanted, at least not only; it is the sum of many tiny parts. And then your work - your success, your ultimate value - doesn't make you happy anymore. Now what?

The word that comes to mind is purpose. And yes, you heard this before, probably read it on linkedin too because the gurus are out there always ready to pounce. However, what most gurus have been failing to understand is that purpose does not equal results from work. That is as valid for your personal life as it is for your characters. They always have interesting motivations, their innermost drivers that help shape their purpose.

Purpose, in narrative theory, can be just as much about a role to play in that story as about a response to emotional components of a character’s psyche. A villain’s purpose might be world domination. Your personal purpose might be to save nature. That doesn’t have to come from your work, though. You can commit to clean beaches, plant trees and protest on your spare time. Repeat after me: purpose does not equal work. That’s what comes after the realization that the system is broken; to find purpose, to discover the cracks in which you can sow these seeds. We do this for characters, why not do it for ourselves?

Anyway. That’s all for today.

-Marx

This issue’s recommendations:

• (Read) I'm a firm believer in the power of stories. Right-wing parents are burning books in the US. Whether they admit it or not, it's because they feel the same.

• (Read) Shameless plug: last year I joined amazing game designers for a retreat to discuss big design problems. Our group wrote about how to enable nurturing impulses - while other excellent reports blossomed that weekend, from systems suspense to decolonizing design and how to prioritize features.