Milestones

As 2010 approaches, there are a lot of “best of the decade”-type lists popping up – best albums, best movies, ad nauseam. This phenomenon isn’t limited to the decade marker – every year there are similar lists – but the ten year milestone carries with it a sort of significance. It represents an era and the changes during that period, and it’s a good signal for everyone to take a breather and look at the state of things.

Think about it: as human beings, we can hope for 10 (dare I hope for 11?) cycles of 10 years in the whole of our lives. That makes for a nice linkage between decades and our own life milestones. If you were born in 1973, certainly ’83, ’93 and ’03 were all significant for you, as you became a distinctly different person over time. Then there’s the extra significance of the decades themselves turning over: 1990 to 2000 to 2010, easy units that describe our cultural experiences in fashion, music, family, and careers.

If you interact with things in your life, everything is constantly changing.

– Umberto Eco

The 10-year mark functions as an excellent reminder to record your breadth of experience, the things you know, and the things you love. Imagine that every 10 years you composed a list of the hobbies you picked up, your craziest dreams, your best plane rides… all of it builds a picture of who you were at that time. You only get 10 (11?) chances to generate these interesting cross-sections of your life. What insight can you gain from younger versions of yourself, each of which were so enthusiastic about things you have now passed by? What will you find that can inform your plans for the future?

Annual lists might seem trivial by comparison. Who cares what some columnist thinks about the best wristwatches of 2007? However, this doesn’t make lists less important to us. According to Umberto Eco, an author and intellectual curating an exhibition called “The Infinity of Lists” in the Louvre, we make lists to help us grapple with the concept and scope of infinity.

As Umberto Eco says in his interview: “If you interact with things in your life, everything is constantly changing. And if nothing changes, you’re an idiot.” So, whatever milestone you choose, consider that there’s real value in revisiting the events of your life in a structured way. This is an ideal time to record your experiences, knowledge, and hobbies.