Enthymeme - An argument in which one premise is not explicitly stated.
This term originates from the mid-16th century, derived from the Greek enthumēma and the Latin enthumeisthai, which translates to "consider within the mind."
A few thoughts that I have been considering within my mind this week are the stories we tell ourselves and the finitude of life.
On average we have 4,000 weeks on the earth, which is about 80 years, when put into the context of weeks it becomes quite apparent, we don’t have that long! Morbid and confronting I know!
So why have I chosen this week to be so focused on the amount of time I have on the planet? I am 1,748 weeks old and this week finished reading Oliver Burkemans book Four Thousand Weeks and he poses 5 questions at the end.
These questions got me thinking about the story I tell myself and it made me realise that there is often a premise that I leave out as part of the story that keeps me in my comfort zone, in a realm of familiarity or at the centre of the story.
The five questions are:
Where in your life or you work are you currently pursuing comfort, when what’s called for is a little discomfort?
Are you holding yourself to, and judging yourself by, standards of productivity or performance that are impossible to meet?
In what ways have you yet to accept the fact that you are who you are, not the person you think you ought to be?
In which area of your life are you still holding back until you feel like you know what you’re doing?
How would you spend your days differently if you didn’t care so much about seeing your actions reach fruition?
These questions absolutely challenged my thinking, I know there are premises I leave out of my internal monologue.
My monologue:
Why do I always get left to do all the dishes every night?! This just isn’t fair, Kelly (my wife) doesn’t have to do this many when it’s her turn.
The reality:
I’ve been out of the house all day at work, whereas she has been at home with two toddlers who are more unreasonable than me. She hasn’t had time to do any of that tidying up, in between feeding the kids, feeding herself and preparing dinner for everyone, she is just trying to keep everything together. The washing up is the last thing on her mind, let alone purposefully leaving it there to slight me.
This is just one enthymeme I tell myself on a regular basis and I’m sure some of you reading, can relate to a something similar.
As I delve deeper into self-actualization, I realize that the narratives we construct about ourselves are just stories. We often doubt our abilities based on narratives that have evolved over years, unique to each of us as the narrators of our own lives.
A central narrative for me revolves around investing heavily in my career and business now so that I can prioritize family time in the future, free from current worries. This quote from Jessica Abel really resonates with me on this narrative:
“If you don’t save a bit of your time for you, now, out of every week, there is no moment in the future when you’ll magically be done with everything and have loads of free time”.
That time I am waiting for, might never come. So why am I sacrificing this time now?
Don’t ignore the premise you are leaving out to justify your story. Consider in your mind the five questions above and take ownership your life and cherish what you have left of your 4,000 weeks.
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