The Meaning of Life

In my opinion…

The meaning of life is to create.

Create art, create friendships, create laughter, create apps, create sweat, create love, create babies, create mitzvahs, create businesses, create buffalo chicken dip, create blog posts… create and contribute to the world what does not yet exist.

My Logic

I was raised Jewish. Despite my now secular life, some Jewish customs stayed with me. One is my habitual impulse to write “G-d”. Another is to never go cheap on a bagel. And, that the Bible’s opening verse is G-d creating Earth and all its beings. Wow… the creation of the world… what an epic way to start a book! And what an important personality trait for Someone to have.

For most of my life, I reasoned that if we are made in the image of G-d, and G-d is the ultimate creator, then therefore humans are ultimate creators. Our purpose in life is to create.

This reasoning was always natural to me. I wish I could call this theory “creationism”. Unfortunately, that term is already taken! So, I will simply refer to this as “the creation mindset”.

My goal is to finally write about the creation mindset and how this theory has helped me is helping me live a better life. Although inspired by religion, this is a completely secular theory. I want to know who agrees and disagrees. I want to revisit this in a decade and see if I agree or disagree.

Creation vs. Consumption

There’s a tension between the words “creation” and “consumption”, especially in context to capitalism. Although neither synonyms nor antonyms, it’s clear who is the “creator” and who is the “consumer” in a particular transaction. When you eat, you are consuming food created by a producer. When you travel, you are consuming machines created by engineers. Clearly defining the creators in a particular domain is a net-good, as it enforces economic specialization. However, it’s become so darn easy to default to the consumer side of a transaction, otherwise known as over-consumption…

[insert image of the humans in WALL-E to prove I’m a high-browed film savant]

The creation mindset is a survival tactic in a capitalist world.² Identify things in your life that put you on the supply side of a transaction. This could be creating a widget for a consumer market. But, consumers aren’t exclusively economic: you could also cook dinner for your friends or fix a neighbor’s chair. Creating for consumers means you are providing them value. “Value” is a subjective term, but I think about it this way: there are two things you can spend in this world - time and money. Value is the time or money you give others. Creating things that give others time and money gives you purpose, as it enables others to perform their own creative acts.

Every day, I seek to create things that give others more time and money. My late grandfathers, both restaurant owners, would attest to serving others as a life well-lived.³

Making Life Feel Longer

I hear so many people say, “Wow! The year went so fast!” So, it begs the question… how do you make a year, a lifetime, go slow?

Radiolab’s “The Secret to a Long Life” presents a layman’s theory. Your brain measures time through memories. The more memories in a given day, week, year, etc., the longer that unit of time feels. Novel moments like skydiving or a first kiss imprint more deeply than routine tasks. To put simply, seek novelty and avoid routine to make life feel longer.

It’s hard to upend your life and live a carpe diem lifestyle of sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll. So, many seek novelty by going on experiences that complement their daily routines. We vacation, go to concerts, and take classes. Experiences are effective, yet doing these on a daily basis can get quite expensive!

The creation mindset believes creating things makes life feel longer. What’s more memorable - eating Chipotle, or cooking your own dish? Watching Netflix, or performing in front of a camera or audience? It’s not the destination, it’s the journey: the act of creating is the novelty that will make life feel longer and more meaningful. In 2nd grade, I made a menu for my dream restaurant, which I still have…

35 cents for a salmon… those were the days! My low prices must have been from my COGS being $0- all my supply was “magically” found in the kitchen. Thanks, mom and dad!

I remember writing that menu on my kitchen table and serving my first customer, Uncle Steve, a hot dog (ketchup, no bun). It’s hard to forget your greatest creations.

I envy my handyman friend who finds novelty inside his routine life of fixing unique problems in new houses. of my desk job, I try to “break out of the matrix” in other ways. I try a new restaurant, talk to a stranger at the store, or simply spot something in my bedroom I’ve never noticed. It’s an excellent way to practice presence.

Loving Failure

Creators create things. Nobody said all those things are good. Most creations are absolute garbage.

The creation mindset loves failure, finding liberation in the indifference of others and the hidden gifts in each failure. Sara Blakely says it best on how her dad redefined failure (first 30 seconds):

I recognize this as the failure paradox: you have to fail more to succeed more.

Capitalism often highlights successful outcomes, favoring those with the right skills, timing, and connections. For every success story, there are twenty have-nots: you may feel like one right now. That’s okay. The creation mindset believes quantity matters more than quality. Keep trying, learning, and iterating on your creations. More attempts mean more failures, but also increased chances of success. Feeling burnout? That’s okay. Try something new. Creativity is just connecting things. The more things you try, the more you can discover missing threads. Who knows, you might create the next PB&J sandwich!

“If you’re scared about something you’ve never done before like reading or multiplication or dating- say this: ‘I’ll figure it out.’ Then remind yourself of everything you’ve figured out so far.” - Gary Gulman

The creation mindset avoids the trap of Endless Student Syndrome - continuous learning without application. There is an infinite amount of educational content. Pair that with our grade school instinct to study before the test, and it’s easier to hide behind the “still a student” label than risk failure of sharing a creation. The creation mindset believes creating is a better learning mechanism than studying.⁴

Every night, I write down what I tried that day. The outcome is not important. I also write down my “wins” of choosing creating (i.e. building a terrible web app) over studying (watching a 2-hour Youtube tutorial).

Curing Loneliness

We live in the loneliest generation. Remote work, declining church attendance⁵, and fewer spontaneous conversations contribute to isolation. When deprived of basic social connection, we become depressed, desperate, vulnerable, and even at risk of death.

“A synthesis of data… shows poor social relationships were associated with a 29% increase in the risk of heart disease and a 32% increase in the risk of stroke.” - Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation, 2023 Surgeon General Report

Creating things for consumers is meaningful on its own, but doing it with someone else creates an unforgettable bond. I’ve never had more belly laughs in my life than creating dumb Youtube videos with my friends! Sharing a successful creation is obviously fun. But more importantly, sharing a failed creation distributes the fear of failure, making you less lonely.

If you just moved to a new city or want to branch out, the creation mindset believes creation-based activities have a higher likelihood of making social connections than consumption-based activities. Creating alone is step one in the process. Cook for one. Produce a song with no intent of sharing. Solo creation is an endeavor in finding what you like, which makes the second step of finding the right people much easier.

I admire my friend, Noel, who got me thinking about loneliness in the first place! I envy my other friend, a regular church-goer, who uses her faith as a reliable source of social connection. For me, I try to list places that are my sources of social connection that also promote creation: volunteering and basketball. To me, the creative act of playing basketball creates richer relationships than the consumptive act of watching basketball at the bar.

With All This Said…

There are many days where I wake up, drink coffee, open Slack, give the same sales demo, go to the gym, eat Chipotle, shower, watch the game, then go to bed.

This essay wasn’t inspired by a success story but rather fear that I’m not finding meaning in my current circumstance. I hope the creation mindset will push me down a path of creating things that I enjoy, giving value to others, and overcoming the fear of becoming the person I want to be.

Footnotes

1. Because the Internet is one of my favorite albums. To me, it explores concepts of monotony, identity in the Internet age, and the search for meaning in an isolated world.
2. Reforming capitalism is another story for another time. The scope of this essay is to explore how individuals can find meaning in their current environment.
3. Paul Graham’s How to Make Wealth, specifically “The Pie Fallacy” section, was an inspiration. It’s challenged my assumptions on money, wealth, and value.
4. Pro Tip: I’ve found Chat GPT to be helpful for combating Endless Student Syndrome, as it bridges the gap between traditional tutorials and applied projects.
5. This isn’t a theological argument- worship whatever! This is a community argument: prior generations used Sunday service as a source of regular social connection. As society grows more secular, no recurring community gatherings have been introduced to fill this void at such scale.