The 5 Seductions of Triviality
No one wakes hoping to live a meaningless life. But triviality is seductive.
You don’t have to wear a scowl. You do need courage to confront triviality.
The 5 Seductions of Triviality:
#1. Stay busy.
Busyness hides aimlessness. Motion fakes direction.
Hustle isn’t all bad. But it’s not a destination.
Beyond busyness:
- Schedule a 10-minute pause each day to ask, “Is what I’m doing meaningful?”
- Keep a “to-don’t” list beside your to-do list.
#2. Fit in.
Triviality whispers, “Fit in.” Peer pressure isn’t just for teens.
Conformity kills uniqueness. Fit in to disappear.
Fit in just enough to connect and contribute.
Beyond fitting in:
- Speak your viewpoint without needing people to embrace it.
- Challenge the status quo with forward-facing optimism.
#3. Let others define you.
Hollow life says play safe. Let others write the story and take the blame.
Beyond being defined by others:
- Name your top values.
- Evaluate your schedule by your values.
#4. Live comfortably.
Triviality sleeps beside ease.
It’s easy to splash in the shallows. Failure feels fatal when meaning is at stake.
Comfort matters, but growth requires discomfort.
Beyond comfort:
- Schedule one step toward the thing you really want to do at least once a week.
- Challenge yourself by asking, “What important work am I avoiding?”
#5. Pretend everything is just great.
Shallowness says, “Put on the mask. Hide the struggle.”
Hypocrisy kills your soul.
Beyond pretending:
- Share one real struggle with someone you trust this week.
- Set a growth goal, not just a performance goal. (Share it.)
Key idea: A meaningful life calls you to resist the seductions of triviality.
Which idea in this post can you take to heart?
Dig deeper:
(PDF) Meaningful Leadership and Employees’ Well-being: Process through Meaningful Work
Keep a “to-don’t” list beside my to-do list.
Saying no is a profound challenge.
“Schedule one step toward the thing you really want to do at least once a week.”
Hmm. That will require that a pick just ONE thing I really want to do or accomplish … I want to do it ALL! Which can sometimes leave me spinning my wheels.
I hear you. The plural of priority is a recent “innovation.” We can only have one priority. It takes work to figure out what the big rock is for a week. Perhaps it’s unrealistic. Maybe it’s three. One thing is sure, as you suggest, it isn’t everything.
“Stay Busy” – sometimes staying busy is masking for something. Your mind and body requires some stillness every once in a while.
Some of my best ideas come to me when I step away from the work.
If feels like busy and meaningful should point to meaningful contribution. But I’m with you, SB, sometimes busy is a mask for boredom or fear of missing out. Sometimes when we do less we actually do more.
I would add as a sub-point to all of these, “stay very active on multiple social media platforms”. These can be great tools, but they can easily contribute to the “value myth”.
What a time suck scrolling social media can become. There have been a few times I carelessly stumbled into this meaning-draining activity. Heaven help us.
Thanks for bringing this one up, Ryan.
Ouch!
Challenge yourself by asking, “What important work am I avoiding?”
Just brilliant. Thanks for this.
Back from a wonderful sabbatical and ready to reengage.
Welcome back. Here’s to finding joy wherever you are.
Like Pete above, my bugaboo is “Challenge yourself by asking, “What important work am I avoiding?”” -that is where my busyness lies.
It’s interesting how we can postpone important work and choose to spend the day chasing urgencies. Maybe it feels too risky to fail at something that matters deeply? Maybe it feels easier to solve a pressing issue than to build an intentional future. It’s just to scary to set a direction that rules out so many interesting options?