One of my favorite authors online (Ted Gioia) posted a year-in-review of his most-viewed articles on December 30th, which I didn't see until a couple days later and found myself reading over a particular one about his take on a technique the physicist Richard Feynman developed to keep himself focused: keep a list of 12 problems that you want to solve and why. Surprisingly I never heard of them before since I don't fully understand the hero worship people give Feynman (read a little of Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman several years ago but lost interest when I read about him being a prick). That said, Gioia does a good job of making a case for trying out the technique and using it as a means to figure out what's the most important goals and desires in your life.
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When looking it up further, it appears this has been a thing for a while and several other bloggers (links below) have done it themselves. Fortunately I didn't find any signs that this was done to the death yet so I'm giving it a shot too and hoping this exercise might provide more clarity on what I'm actually striving for, now that I'm entering the "mid-life" portion of things.
I'm only posting the questions and any additional context for why I'm asking - I haven't even begun trying to find concrete answers/evidence and figure that this all will take the rest of my life to consider. The wonderful thing about this exercise is that's the whole point - these questions are supposed to probe a deeper meaning out of living.
My 12 Favorite Problems (and Why I'm Asking)
1.) Is it better to be happy with your life or just satisfied? (I lean towards satisfaction since I usually find happiness to be tied to momentary things and not really anything long-lasting.)
2.) Is there an effective way to promote looking at the world with nuance over binary thinking?
3.) All ideologies/schools of thought can be seen as tools in a kit rather than identities to live (the "I'm a _____" approach) - is there a way to make this make sense to other people?
4.) Why do certain fields of work require so much mythologizing around them and why are those ones valued more in society that others? (aka "Why do lawyers and doctors get TV dramas but not electricians?")
5.) Is it even possible to be "in the center" and aren't there times where that would be a proper response? (While I've certainly picked a side in most debates, I hate the way people online have made a boogeyman out of centrists/moderates. Those are positions too and they have sometimes shown to be more accurate than anyone else.)
6.) What does a full life look like?
7.) Why does morality have to be tied to religion and not just accepted as it's own thing?
8.) Do you actually need advanced degrees or certifications to advance in your career satisfactorily? (I'm especially frustrated right now with this one, since I feel like I've hit a wall career-wise.)
9.) Is it possible to be a good person without ever being a "nice" person? (Most of my life up to now has been a series of trying to be good and either succeeding or failing but I've also been known to be a total grump on most days...)
10.) Why are certain kinds of people resistant to change, even though the universe is constantly changing around us?
11.) What are the actual points of "tradition" and "progress"? (I lean towards progress over tradition but sometimes it feels like a case of the dead bullying you versus the unborn bullying you.)
12.) Does it honestly matter if we leave an impact behind after we die? (The main driving force behind why I want to be a writer, honestly.)
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