In the mid 1600s a good friend of mine Isaac was sitting in an orchard pondering life. As he sat amongst the apple trees pondering, he made a discovery. Nearby an apple fell from a tree and when he saw this he realised that for that apple to fall from the tree towards the earth, a force must be acting upon it. He had discovered a fundamental force that governs much of how everything in the universe interacts. He had discovered gravity.
My friend Isaac of course did not invent gravity at that moment, it had been present since the dawn of time, affecting how all mass interacts with other mass. But what he had done, was to give it a name.
By giving gravity a name he captured this force within a word, and that word could be used to share with others his new found greater understanding of how the universe works. It allowed the theory of gravity to be taught to others. This allowed the people who had the knowledge of gravity to feed it into their decision making to drive better outcomes. Planning on climbing a mountain? You should probably consider gravity.
Planning on attempting to jump your BMX over kayaker’s in a river? You should probably consider gravity.
Gravity is an unstoppable force and if you don’t account for it, you’re going to have a bad time.
Much like my friend Isaac, I’ve spent many hours sitting under shady trees pondering.
I’ve sat under trees in the Kimberley pondering, I’ve sat under trees in Cape York pondering, I’ve sat under trees on small tropical Queensland islands pondering. Much if this pondering has amounted to little, however during this pondering I have gradually come to discover another fundamental force within the universe. A fundamental force that influences or even controls the trajectory of the majority of people’s lives.
I call it The Next Step Death Spiral.
The Next Step Death Spiral, like gravity is invisible. You can’t see it or feel it, but just like gravity, it’s a strong, fundamental force. It’s everywhere.
The next step death spiral is the propensity of people to constantly crave the next step. The propensity of people to not enjoy their current accomplishments and to instead fantasise exclusively about the next step, until one day they are dead.
This invisible fundamental force tends to manipulate people’s path through life to match it’s spirally will:
A single person, enjoying life with no commitments,
NEXT STEP
Find a boyfriend / girlfriend
NEXT STEP
Move in together
NEXT STEP
Get engaged
NEXT STEP
Get a mortgage
NEXT STEP
Get a pet
NEXT STEP
Get married (spending a small fortune on a one day cultural ceremony)
NEXT STEP
Have a baby (reducing the couples earning potential dramatically, often at a time when they’re facing the most debt they’ve ever had)
NEXT STEP
Death.
Much like my friend Isaac, I didn’t invent The Next Step Death Spiral, I only discovered it. I merely gave it a name.
But by giving it a name, much like gravity, it will allow the concept of The Next Step Death Spiral to be shared, to be taught to others. To allow people who now have the knowledge of the fundamental force that is The Next Step Death Spiral to account for it, to compensate for it as they plan the trajectory of their life. To be aware of it whenever they interact with other people who may be completely unaware that they are under the influence of, or even being directly controlled by The Next Step Death Spiral.
The ability of the next step death spiral to affect people’s desires is so strong that often people measure the success of their lives or others not by things such as happiness, wealth or fitness, but upon progress within The Next Step Death Spiral. I’ve heard of many small talk conversations at hair salons and the like along the lines of;
“How many kids do you have?”
“I don’t have any kids”
Then with a look of pity, “Married?”,
“No, I’m not married.”
With an increasing pity in their voice, “Don’t worry, one day it’ll happen, I’m sure”
These type of interactions of people deep in the spiral cause Status Anxiety amongst those not yet deep in The Next Step Death Spiral, often leading them to want to increase their speed and spin closer towards the centre of the spiral.
So now that we’ve identified this fundamental force, how do we compensate for it? How do we account for the power of it so we’re not caught unaware by the way it will fundamentally affects and spirals people’s lives?
Don’t allow huge life decisions to be made without any conscious thought, without thinking through and evaluating every possible option.
Think of the second and third order consequences of every major decision. If I do this, what happens next, what happens after that.
Think of the opportunity cost of making each present day decision. If I do this, what do I miss out on? What future opportunities will I miss because of this choice?
Don’t avoid making conscious life decisions, and hence let The Next Step Death Spiral lure you into its grasp as it is the fundamental default.
When decision making you avoid attributing the merit of different options based upon on what the majority is doing. Often the majority is wrong. Often if you’re with the majority, it’s a crowded trade, and you’re likely to pay a premium just to be in on it.
So why don’t people try to avoid the next step spiral? Why do people act like lemmings diving headfirst into the abyss one after another in an orderly line?
People don’t think about the consequences of decisions, they instead think about their reputation, they think about their status. Decisions are made based upon the likely positive impact on their reputation and status amongst their fellow lemmings. And as another good friend of mine John once said:
Worldly wisdom teaches that it is better for reputation to fail conventionally than to succeed unconventionally.
John Maynard Keynes
Ramblings of an Extreme Man 