There’s a famous story about the elevator buttons that are designated to close the door: many of them don’t do anything. The running joke is that it’s a placebo making riders feel like they have control while also spending the waiting time doing something, thus increasing rider satisfaction but not actually changing the wait time.
Yes, I love psychology and how things work, so I could write all day about the psychology behind designing the button to influence humans and how humans handle waiting and a loss of agency. But when talking about meaning in life specifically, the focus here is on how this concept specifically can be used in your life to help you on your journey.
The idea here is that you are performing an action to make yourself feel better while you wait for other things to happen in life. That is very interesting and relevant to how you maximize your growth and well-being in life. Bank branches famously began putting TVs in their lobby when they began to become inexpensive and smaller so that people could have something to do while they waited, and many other examples such as stadium entertainment between sports plays, the aforementioned elevator close door button, and theme parks giving introductory movies to attractions to convert some wait time into part of the experience are all geared toward making people feel good while waiting for some exciting future event. You can use this same idea to keep yourself busy while waiting for other things in life to develop.
So we all use this device today ever since the invention of the smart phone. If anyone waits more than 5 seconds for anything to happen, they pull out their phone and start checking their app updates (e.g., messages, alerts, news). Unfortunately, that time isn’t always productive. Sometimes, even, it hurts social relationships if you use it at a restaurant when you’re bored instead of thinking of a new topic of conversation. So we now almost all use this approach, but we don’t always use it to our benefit for the future. How can people maximize this concept?
The answer is to use the following prioritization list: improvement -> productivity -> relaxation -> pleasure. What this means is to do the following things while waiting for other things in your life to progress:
What often happens is that people aren’t prepared for downtime or wait time and so focus more on time-wasters than useful activities. We already discussed the biggest issue of people having dopamine machines in their pockets. However, there are a few different situations to keep in mind:
The first one is the one that people now find ways to fill with things that interest them: podcasts for commutes and manual labor, reading or writing on trains or planes, or the latest Netflix show for your Friday nights. This is where you can do something useful like learn a skill or manage your grocery list to improve or maintain your life and then keep yourself amused while you’re doing something that doesn’t require your full attention. Of course, there is a famous trend known as “raw dogging” flights that point out the benefits of rest and meditation for the mind (a strange paradox of exercising the mental discipline of forced relaxation). So you can make sure to combine all four and be very productive or constructive during these planned wait times.
For unplanned wait times, most people have go-to things like mobile games, crossword puzzles, the news, or social media to keep them busy. Small things like puzzle-solving or language-learning can help keep the mind sharp, whereas news or other activities can keep you productive. Amusement is more frequent here because of the short bursts that social media can fill with a quick post or video.
For life progress, this is where you need multiple goals in life: social, educational, occupational, familial, financial, etc. goals. If you are going to graduate soon and feel tempted to develop “senior-itis” instead of working hard, you can find other things to do like preparing for college or thinking about your career. The idea is that if you know that you simply have to wait to hear about a job, a college, a proposal, or the results of a test, you can always have other things in life to focus on.
All of these techniques I listed are “Close Door” buttons: they help you pass the time in a way that is better for your life than time-wasters and can even help you avoid negative thinking and worrying. There are many things you can do to keep your mind busy and make progress in various areas of your life at various times, so it’s good to make use of them if you have a lot going on in life and need to be able to sneak in things like exercise, news, or other life maintenance.
One word of caution regarding the “Door Close” button technique: this technique does risk wearing you out and not giving you appropriate down time for your body and mind. There are two ways it can do that: without time to clear your mind, it can be difficult for you to deal with problems and stress in life; if you focus too much on dopamine-triggering activities like social media, it can become a mild addiction. In the former case, people who fill their attention 24/7 might not have time to think about things, let their mind wander or be creative, or process things like thoughts or emotions. Now, you might be doing that intentionally if you had recent trauma, but it is important to deprive your mind of stimulation to let it self-maintain (like sleeping maintains your body and mind or having an ink jet printer perform maintenance keeps the printing working well). In the latter case, you might not be able to focus on any one thing for a period of time, might not be able to handle boredom or your thoughts for more than a few seconds, or might then have other downtime focused on these behaviors rather than shifting to something you can dedicate more time and attention on like playing a game or spending time with family or friends.
While this technique can be used for any of the above scenarios, the biggest life-related benefit is to use it when a large part of your life path is inaccessible at the moment. If your job is stuck on autopilot, you can develop other skills. If you’re overseas with the military and can’t see your family, you can focus on learning, exercising, and career advancement. If you have a long subway commute for a while and need the money, you can write a blog on the way. The idea is simply to avoid letting worry, stress, negative thoughts, time-wasters, or other issues cause you to miss out on opportunities to keep your life moving in the right direction while nothing else can be done in one of your high-priority areas.
While you always want to find ways to make your life better, sometimes immediate action on the direct path is not possible. In those cases, find your “Door Close” button to keep you occupied in a way that is beneficial for you. As long as you are not hurting yourself or missing when the opportunity to resume progress in your priority areas arises, your techniques to keep yourself occupied should make your life just a little more enjoyable.