Questioning Defaults In Life

What are the things in life we choose to accept as the default setting? Have you asked yourself what settings in your own life you've left as the default option rather than deliberately setting it to the option you want? 

Have you changed the ring tone on your phone after you bought it? Is the notification sound the default "ding"?

Social Defaults

Family? Are they the people you really want to be spending time with? Why love them at all? This does double for your friends, why do you hang out with that group? 

Marriage? Have you considered why you should marry? Does that change how you feel about your partner or will it change it for the better?

Monogamy in relationships? Most of human civilization wasn't monogamous, is that the setting you want to choose? 

Environment Defaults

Why would you buy a house? Have you actually done the math of renting vs. buying? Have you factored in flexibility, worst case scenarios, and emotions?

Why do you live where you live? Why do you stay where you were born or where your parents are? Why do you stay in the country where you are a "citizen" of? 

Why do you identify with a country, ethnicity, and/or city you were born into? 

Education Defaults

Why are IQ scores or left-brained tendencies used to assess "smarts"? What is the definition of smart for you? 

Why do you consider one degree "smarter" than another? Why do you consider post-graduates to be smarter? Do people actually learn there?

School? Should you go to school? To what level? We are seeing some drop out as early as high school but also some pursuing PhDs without intentions of being in academia. What about you?

Work Defaults

Why is retirement a goal? 

Why is a promotion congratulated? Is it even a good thing? What if it means more time at work and less time with people you love?

Why is getting a great job the final goal when no one achieves freedom being an employee?

Why do you work 5 days a week? Why not spend 7 days doing what you love and 0 days doing what you dislike? 

Why do you eat 3 times a day? Have you looked into the science behind it or the nutritional purpose behind your diet?

Why do you choose to save money for your kids? Have you calculated how much they might actually need? 

Default vs. Deliberate

How many things in your life are you taking as the default option? Why? How would your answer and behaviour change if you decided to be deliberate with your choices instead of taking the default option? Most of the options we have now weren't default options 1000, 100 or even 50 years ago. 

Question your defaults. Choose with purpose and intent. Don't just take the packaging they gave you.