The Shift: Issue #13
A shift in values during the pandemic; how to pull off a successful launch; building an open-source publishing platform; the downsides of WFH; the future of co-working?
As you reach midlife, your values shift. Maybe you've achieved what you set out to do, but now you can't see the point of it all. Or you feel like you haven't done enough compared to your peers. You're halfway through your life and feeling a bit restless. What next?
Psychoanalyst Elliott Jacques coined the term 'midlife crisis' in 1965 in a paper on the working patterns of creative geniuses. It was a small part of his life's work – he had loads of big ideas – but this has become a cultural phenomenon and what he's best known for. For most of us, it's not really a crisis, more like a persistent feeling of dissatisfaction in our 40s/50s. “Is this it?” has come up frequently in conversations with friends.
What's interesting about the pandemic is that it's left many of us feeling like this – not just the midlife generation.
New research reveals a seismic shift in consumer values across all ages during the pandemic. There's been a rapid fall in values like materialism, power, status, wealth…
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