This week I wanted to address this really interesting topic… Spoilers… on Tuesday I was walking to the school and just outside the elevator in my home was the Wall Street Journal. There, on the bottom part of the front page was an article about how on-demand content is going to generate spoilers and how that could be troubling. It really got me thinking….
Let me first start by describing the concept of ‘spoilers’. The idea is that people feel upset when they are told the end of a story/movie/content. That being told what happens at the end somehow degrades, devalues and breaks the experience of the content. I myself have not enjoyed knowing who wins an F1 race and MotoGP race, for example. Knowing who wins the race somehow could degrades the experience of watching the race, OK so this is a ‘spoiler’. A really interesting concept in my view, however, there is one massive element which, to me, makes spoiling problematic. This is really important as it will influence your entire life! (ok, I may be a little dramatic at times, but I feel that this is that important).
Ok, so this is how it goes: The end does not matter!
What?! What do you mean the end does not matter?
It does not… when you go from point A to point B (watch a race, movie, series, book, trade deal, anything!), point B is irrelevant. Nah… that cannot be….. really? How can it not matter…. Well, ok, it does matter a little bit, but the end point pales in comparison to how you get from post A to B. The experience of A to B is it! Moreover, being a parent has strengthened this in me! (At this moment you may be thinking I am making no sense… please bear with me…) I have known for a long time where my end lies (well, since I understood the concept of death)… in a sense you can say I have known my life’s spoiler from a very early age… My life will end like everyone else’s, when I die. And so will my son’s and everyone else’s…. If we subscribe to the concept of spoilers — if I know who won a race it is not worth watching the race — it must follow that if I know how my life ends it is not worth living! Ok… surely that is a bit dramatic… but the spoiler is really just a misdirection to distract people from what really matters: what takes place in my life is infinitely more important that dying at the end…
What does this mean then?
Well, forget about spoilers… forget about being worried about the end and bring your attention to NOW. Use your energy, your resources, your focus, your passion, your commitment, your best to be aware of what is going on in the present moment for it is the time the best time to influence so that you can get to the end. This applies at all levels. For exemple, if I know Rossi wins this race, will you enjoy the video below less? I highly recommend you watch the video on the link below and ask yourself this question… does knowing the winner make this less enjoyable? If it does… then be careful. Bring more attention to the experience you are having as opposed to what happens in the future. Be present in the present. If it doesn’t, then ask yourself if you suffer from spoilers elsewhere… and, well my recommendation, is for you to stop being distracted by the end and focus on the now!