Meanings
You’re unlikely to clarify your life’s meaning if you aren’t clear how you describe it.
When we’re dealing with the ambiguous, it helps to have clear language to communicate that ambiguity.
A profession is, first and foremost, an act of language: it communicates our promise to our calling. To support that, we’re providing linguistic resources.
Our aim is four-fold:
- Provide vocabulary that describes unclear feelings, the abstract, etc.
- Avoid using terms in lazy, different, and confusing ways
- Encourage precision. Clear communicating leads to clear thinking
- Know ourselves better by knowing which language resonates with us
The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.
FulfillionaireOne who seeks his or her riches in meaning more so than in means. Those who value and cultivate their internal motivation rather than extrinsic motivators, like fame, fortune, status, etc.
GoalodicyThe obsessive pursuit of goals to the point of self-destruction. Goalodicy was coined by former stockbroker, now GWU management science professor Chris Kayes, PhD. in his book, Destructive Goal Pursuit: The Mt. Everest Disaster. A portmanteau of goal + theodicy: the mathematician and(...)
IkigaiIkigai “(生き甲斐, pronounced [ikiɡai]) is a Japanese concept that means "a reason for being". The word refers to having a direction or purpose in life, that which makes one's life worthwhile, and towards which an individual takes spontaneous and willing actions giving them satisfaction and a(...)
LiminalityA space between places—and the accompanying feelings of ambiguity, disorientation, and irresoluteness as one passes from one station or stage to another. Traditionally, ceremonies and rites of passage accompany such transitions like coming of age, graduation, marriage, and(...)
Portmanteaua word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two or more others. Common examples include smog, combining smoke and fog. Examples used in Meaning(s)--this glossary--include Toolishness and Wantrepreneur. Etymology: Lewis Carroll introduces the term in his 1871 book Through(...)
ProfessionOriginally a solemn commitment declared publicly to do certain work, especially in response to a calling. “Professors” would hone their talents with study. Institutions evolved to ensure those earned a living, and later to protect that livelihood, especially from competitions and other(...)
Raison d'êtreJohn Stuart Mill first used raison d'etre in English (1864) The most important reason, the justification, or purpose for someone or something's existence. What you live to do--or why you do (important) things. More(...)
"Revenge Procrastination"報復性熬夜 This Chinese term 報復性熬夜 translates to “staying-up-late revenge”. Those who lack control over their workdays delay their bedtime to savor their freedom at night, usually all online, fully aware it will harm their productivity the next day at work. The revenge part is the self(...)
“Toolishness”Noun. A portmanteau of “tool” & “foolishness”, is the tendency to attribute excessive hope, and even magical powers to tools, especially ones new or even yet unknown to us. We tend to presume merely wielding the tool will confer such power, without realizing it’s incredibly hard to learn both(...)
TorschlusspanikNoun. German for "gate-closing panic," a word to characterize the fear of diminishing opportunities as one ages. This may include panicked sensations of time running out, one's range of options are narrowing, particularly, that one's life is passing by. While women racing the “biological(...)
WantrepreneurA wannabe or pre entrepreneur. A portmanteau of "want" and "entrepreneur". Often used pejoratively: wantrepreneurs are poseurs, pretenders, wannabes and not even as good as "failures", who are lionized in startup culture--as they have at least tried. There are efforts to re-examine,(...)