Connecting the dots: A way of living that 'connects the dots'

I watched Steve Jobs' legendary commencement speech at Stanford University again. This speech touches the hearts of many, but the most famous phrase among them is 'Connecting the dots'.

Jobs shared the story of how, after dropping out of college, he sat in on a calligraphy class out of curiosity, which years later led to the beautiful font design of the first Macintosh.

Today, I would like to write about this 'connecting the dots' from my current perspective as I live my second life, and what I have felt through conversations with my friends around me.

How to connect the dots

First and foremost, what is needed to connect the dots is not a skill for connecting them well or a planned life design. As Jobs says, you cannot connect the dots by predicting the future and looking forward; they can only be connected when you look back.

In other words, dots are the proof of our experiences and actions. When we are young, I think we should just immerse ourselves in the fun right in front of us, relying solely on intuition and curiosity, and keep increasing the dots without thinking about future gains or losses or calculating our careers backward.

'Is there any point in doing something like this?'
'Won't it be a waste of time?'

I myself felt things like that when I was young. I wanted to achieve good results in the shortest possible time rationally, so there was a period when I was impatient and refused to do anything that seemed useless.

However, I now understand that it is the experiences you dive into without thinking about whether they have meaning that end up creating unexpected value later on.

Connecting the dots: Comments from friends

The other day, we had a lively discussion about this topic of 'connecting the dots' on the Discord for the FIRE CAFE community I participate in. The comments from my friends there were very much to the point.

• Contributor 1:
  'There are moments when I realize that past actions I thought were completely meaningless were actually connected to who I am today in some way.'
  

• Contributor 2:
  'My feeling is that at first, two dots connect to form a "line." As I get older, more and more various experiences connect, and eventually, it feels like it's becoming a "mesh (net)." Getting older isn't so bad.'

I nodded deeply at this expression of becoming a mesh. I realize that getting older is not just about aging, but a process where the dots scattered throughout my life connect to build a strong and rich mesh.

Connecting the dots: My experience

Looking back on my own experience, since I took early retirement from my company and started my second life, I have vividly felt the sensation of past dots suddenly connecting to form a 'line'.

And before I knew it, the lines began to intersect and connect, and I have the impression that it has changed into a wide variety of shapes rather than just a mesh.

By shapes, I mean it feels like I am building three-dimensional forms, like triangular prisms or cubes, rather than two-dimensional triangles or quadrilaterals.

In this world, there are easy-to-understand connections where the cause-and-effect relationship can be explained.

If you take action A, you get result B. Because you want result B, you put in the effort for A. This is a natural way of thinking when you are an active employee, and it is a very easy-to-understand relationship.

On the other hand, suppose there is an action 'C' where the causal relationship is completely invisible. When we cannot expect the immediate result B that we want, we who live in the modern age tend to discard it as 'C is useless and meaningless' because we prioritize efficiency.

However, in order to 'connect the dots' in life, I think that this C (which is an experience that looks useless at first glance) is needed in large quantities.

For example, time spent immersed in practicing a musical instrument that has nothing to do with work, encounters while traveling that you happened to stop by, or social contribution activities that you were involved in without regard for profit or loss. Many of the actions of C that I did not think would be 'useful for something' at the time. Everything is pure experience.

I am convinced that the reason I feel a 'sense that everything is connected' that I could not feel when I was an employee is because of the large amount of 'C' that I have accumulated while thinking it was meaningless in the past.

I have summarized the specific episodes where I actually felt that 'the dots were connected' in the note article below ↓

The dots are connected for the first time when looking back on the past

People whose dots do not connect

On the other hand, when I was talking to someone, they lamented, 'I don't have that sense of connection.'

Why are there people whose dots connect and people whose dots do not?

One is the positive reason that the present is in the middle of creating 'dots' called experience. It may be in the near future that it will be seen as a line.

However, if you have passed a certain age and can see your second life, but you 'do not have a sense of connection'.

It may be a slightly harsh view, but I think that the absolute number of dots (= experience and action) is overwhelmingly insufficient. Because there are too few dots, the distance between each dot is too far, and it is in a state where it cannot be connected physically.

'Then, what should I do?'
'Will the rest of my life remain unconnected?'

To those who are anxious about that.

The answer is quite simple, and it is not too late to act now. I think it is to take many actions as curiosity leads you without thinking about whether it is meaningful or not, and to accumulate many new experiences. It is to forget efficiency and profit and loss, and to enjoy wastefulness.

I feel like Jobs is saying that. I don't know, though...

If you continue to increase the dots greedily like that, you will surely be able to see 'lines' and beautiful 'figures' while reaching the milestone of 60 years old and walking through your second life.

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