Declaring War On Platitudes
“It’s the Journey, Not The Destination.”
“Think Outside The Box.”
“Life Is Short.”
“Live Laugh Love”
A Platitude is an expression that is meant to be insightful or thought provoking, but is repeated so often that it becomes meaningless.
In other words, Cliché.
Platitudes are the messages we’ve heard over and over since we were young, at birthday parties and graduations, at weddings and funerals, when we succeed or fail.
The life advice that is freely dished out to anyone who will listen.
Supposedly timeless wisdom that teaches us how to navigate the ups and downs of life.
I’ll be straightforward:
Platitudes drive me crazy.
I hate the one size fits all, empty calories messaging.
Say it again because we don’t have anything else to say.
The sense that it’s all the same road, that the same advice works for everyone, that we can just preach our inspirational quotes, say that right things that sound good - and call it a day.
Platitudes point towards complacency and lack of original thinking.
They represent a sort of pseudo-wisdom - things we say because we have nothing new to say.
It’s the advice that we discover when we type “what is the meaning of life?” into a search bar.
It’s the answers that aren’t answers: empty quotes that don’t move the needle on life or teach us how to navigate the world.
It’s when we outsource our thinking: following the instructions that society lays out to and repeats to us non-stop.
If it gets repeated so often… it must be true!
Let’s circle back to the quote I wrote at the beginning of this post:
“It’s the Journey, Not The Destination.”
People say this all the time.
But what if it’s not true?
I started studying Spanish in 2017 and continued non-stop for five years.
It was always about the destination: becoming fluent in Spanish.
I didn’t put all that effort to conjugate verbs and speak in garbled conversations over video chat.
The whole point was to get there.
Because when I arrived, it unlocked a whole new ability to navigate cultural terrain in Latin America.
Obviously, the destination unlocked a new journey. But the destination was of upmost importance.
I worked my ass off because I didn’t want to be an intermediate Spanish speaker for the rest of my life.
I wanted to get there as quickly as possible - and it was entirely worth it.
The opposite of a platitude is clear, original thinking.
What haven’t I heard before?
What messages feel tailored to my needs, aligned with my incentives, allowing me to upgrade my life in a meaningful way?
Is it possible that expressions or ideas repeated over and over again…are completely wrong?
The Platitude Is The Model.
The Goal Is To Break It.
Break The Model is about ripping through expired, complacent ideas and finding new ways to navigate Planet Earth in a post-COVID environment.