Words of Wisdom
A phrase I live by is “If it won’t matter in 5 years, don’t spend more than 5 minutes thinking about it”. The ideology behind it is simple enough: current decisions and thoughts that won’t matter in the long term simply aren’t that important. To me, it isn’t necessarily restricted to just five minutes and five years, but just the general idea that things that won’t matter in the long term shouldn’t be over-thought about.
Oftentimes I see my friends and family stress out about things that are honestly quite trivial. Things like wondering if they should order a drink alongside their meal, whether or not they should go see a movie, or thinking about if they missed a question on a small homework assignment. Clearly, these are all things that won’t matter (or even be remembered) 5 years from that moment. In my eyes, these are examples of some things that should be given little to no thought about, because what’s the point of causing so much unnecessary indecision?
By identifying small trivial matters and taking my mind off them, it also allows me to then identify important thoughts too. For example, something like writing my college essays is something that WILL matter in 5 years and requires more thought to complete. The essays are a large component of the application process, which influences whether a college would accept me or not. And since the college I attend will definitely affect me in 5 years, writing my college essays is something I would want to give lots of thought to.
In addition, it’s also important not to deem too many things as trivial. Some things may indirectly have a large impact in the future, through a chain reaction type of process. An example of this is school assignments. When viewed individually, each assignment may not have much weight or matter too much, but when viewed as a collective whole, it constitutes a class grade. A grade affects someone’s GPA, which could lead to both positive and negative results in their future (college, job applications, etc.). And so, schoolwork is something that I think should also be given a considerable amount of time to complete.
Overall, I use this phrase to simplify my life. After the realization that many conflicting decisions and thoughts I have to resolve won’t matter in the long term, I’ve begun to focus on more important choices in my life that will make a difference in my future. Whenever I need to make a decision for something and find myself excessively stressing about it, I’ll come back to this phrase and reconsider whether or not it is worth so much time and thought. More often than not, it’s something trivial that wouldn’t make a difference in the long term, allowing me to look forward and focus on the things that do matter.
I’ve heard the phrase you talked about before but haven’t ever been able to follow it in my own life. I liked the way you described the small things in life people tend to worry about as things that won’t even be remembered in five years. Overall, your post had a lot of in-depth descriptions of why you believe in the phrase “If it won’t matter in 5 years, don’t spend more than 5 minutes thinking about it” and why others should as well. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great phrase, and I tend to do the opposite (sometimes caring less about things that may affect me in the long run such as homework, caring a lot about things like ordering a drink with my meal), so I should follow this phrase more. I like the examples that you use because they're relatable.
ReplyDeleteI'd never heard of this phrase before reading your blog post, but I think it is very useful to keep in mind. I often stress out about small issues that don't really impact my life much, so thinking about this phrase might help me relax a bit. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI think thats a smart way to lead a life. It brings to mind the idea of living in the future, as in whatever you are doing today is for something tomorrow. It isn't exactly the same but I try my best to find a balance between the phrase you use and purposefully caring about things that I know won't matter too much in the future.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard this phrase before, but this seems smart. Personally, I work on the bigger picture and then work down to the minute details for too long (as seen in my college essays ;-;). I'll give this phrase a shot though, I like it.
ReplyDeleteI have heard this phrase before and I mainly agree with it. However just because something doesn't have any direct impact in the next years doesn't mean it cant be thought about now. Sometimes you should think over ordering that drink with your meal, it might make you happier for the next little bit. Or buying that one game, it may not amount to anything academic or useful in the future but the time you spend on it will bring you joy. I always think there is a balance to be had when using this quote, because if you base all your decisions on this quote your gonna be bored, only doing things that provide utility and not doing more with your life.
ReplyDeleteI think you made a good point to not deem too many things as trivial. Although I haven't really used this specific phrase to guide me, I've adapted a similar outlook for some things and found that it's important where you draw the line. Sometimes it's really hard to decide, but you did a great job at guiding us on how to successfully approach this.
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