We've had a topsy-turvy winter, which has meant both great snow for skiing along with some rain events and a surprising number of days too windy for the chairlifts to run. March 1st was such a day: from the overnight hours through until about noon, the gusts were over 50 mph and the chairlifts were off. Not great for a Saturday at the ski hill. Some people took to the internet to complain; some played board games; a merry band of us decided this was an opportunity to stick on our climbing skins and see what the side country held. Take a look at the left side of my map from the day:
The red line on the left side is two hours of great fun: I climbed up and then skied down about two thousand vertical feet. The day started out epic and then my tired legs chased the kids for some lift-served skiing after the winds died down. The energy shift from "shucks, the lifts aren't going to run" to "let's climb this hill" is where the goodness is.
Doom and gloom holds our attention. This is true in the micro, as we focus on the stock we should've sold at a high point or cool thing that didn't come to pass. For the most part, in life, we can catch ourselves and realize that the negative outlook doesn't help us do any better. The same perspective curse is true in the macro: people forecasting downturns or telling us about a new concern don't have to earn our attention—they have it from the get go. It seems like the fallback position on a new idea is negative (ban phones, sue to stop the plan, etc.). For whatever reason, it's easy for us to see the half of the glass that's empty or the clouds on the horizon. This could be good: if no one notices the frictions and frustrations and flaws, then no one will come up with solutions and make things better. On the other hand, a default to lingering pessimism not only hides opportunities, but disguises the way things have gotten better. As the essay this week suggests, if your time horizon is longer than the last 15 minutes, life is pretty good.
Reading
We Live Like Royalty and Don’t Know It
Introducing “How the System Works,” a series on the hidden mechanisms that support modern life.