At the moment I’m absorbed by two audiobooks which for some strange huge personality defective reason I listen to at the same time (not exactly at the same time but concurrently).
The first is ‘Solve for Happy’ which I’ll come back to later but the second is ‘Four Thousand Weeks’ by Oliver Burkeman.
I think it’s funny how you search for books like these and then two come along at once, isn’t that always the way?
And so, there’s 1,000 blog posts now for Four Thousand Weeks but I’ll only ever write 2 or 3.
Today’s is primarily about the difference between telic and atelic activities.
This is not new; in fact, it’s attributed to Aristotle who made the definition between the two.
Telos in Greek means purpose and so a telic activity is one with a purpose and an outcome and atelic activity is one without.
It’s clear to see (as Burkeman presents beautifully in the book) that the world gets faster and faster and the activities become more and more telic.
Many people who run a business and then try to run their family life like they run a business, setting goals and targets within their family life and organising people around effective schedules and all sorts of sh*t like that.
We become more and more goal obsessed but the difficulty with this and the huge problem that it brings is that telic activities generate a paradox.
You’re either mildly unhappy with the fact that you’ve not already achieved your telos, or you achieve it, and your goal is extinguished right at that moment or shortly afterwards.
Imagine completing a marathon only to bathe in the glory for a short while before you realise that you have to schedule another marathon in order to repeat the pleasure of completing the marathon.
I think it’s true that very, very few people actually embrace the process of such a thing as an atelic activity.
And so, in the old-fashioned world of alpha male cycling which has now become alpha everyone cycling, it’s about being faster and bigger and stronger with a better bike and more miles and a fancier Strava profile and better kit etc etc etc.
In my world of cycling, it’s defined by the FTP test (Functional Threshold Power) where classically you ride as hard as you can on a fixed bike for 20 minutes until you vomit and see what power number comes out as your average.
It’s a brutal and terrible test to do which gives people the fear for days in advance but perhaps bragging rights after they’re finished for anyone that wants to listen.
And so, then we miss the fun of riding our bikes in the sun or in the rain or in the snow as we chat and stop for a coffee and cake that we can’t really afford to eat because we’re over 50 and getting fatter and then cycle a bit more.
Atelic activities in the modern world have a different name, they’re called hobbies.
The problem is that hobbies used to look like stamp collecting or model railway building or walking (not on Strava) or sewing or reading or any number of other activities which can’t really be measured nor rarely put into a competition but those have been extinguished by the obsession with the telos.
So, for the hundredth time this week I turned off Strava despite the fact that I’ve paid for it recently, I don’t think I’ll ever pay for it again.
It’s Facebook for cycling and I always forget that before I return to it and then it demoralises me because almost everybody on it is doing better than I am and therefore it fuels my telos.
I’ve signed up to ride a crazy bat sh*t ride this summer with three of my friends (one isn’t riding) but I’m not there for the racing, in fact, I’m almost not there for the cycling. I’m there for the atelic joy of riding my bike in some magnificent and beautiful places and being told that I can ride again tomorrow because I wasn’t so far off the back that they’ve decided I’m a safety risk to the rest of the Peloton.
I’m there for the meals and the laughs and the tears and the memories and I’m there to ride my bike.
Blog Post Number - 2999