Great stories don’t happen by accident

Startup culture is, for better and for worse, human.

Which means we have an opportunity to do things, with and for each other, that serve our senses. Things that actually create moments that invoke powerful and lasting memories.

Otherwise, the activity we’re partaking in is just another professional obligation. A tortuous and awkward event we have to wrangle our way through.

Let’s be real. How many forced lunches and office happy hours can one employee really do before it all starts blending in the background?

It’s one of the reasons for my interpersonal mantra:

Make new memories with old friends.

Instead of sitting around telling stories about shit we once did, let’s go out into the world and make a new story. Something that we can talk about next time we’re together.

It works for friends, coworkers, family members and even romantic partners alike.

Reminds me of the scientists who created a video that illustrates how the brain makes memories on a molecular level.

According to the study, within fifteen minutes, molecules form within the brain cell and travel to its fingerlike projections, called dendrites, in order to synthesize the protein. This protein strengthens the connections between brain cells by altering the brain’s shape.

And that’s how memories are made.

The trouble is, that sacred electricity won’t spark every time we do something. Unless we intentionally create a remarkable moment, it won’t produce a heightened emotional state, and that experience won’t be imprinted onto our memories. The moment will disappear like breath on a mirror.

Here’s what we have to ask ourselves:

Are we actually creating new memories, or just having a good time? Are we building something special into our collective history, or just stepping into one of our rote habits and processes?

Fortunately, we have some control over this. We can give the people around us more chances to make memories. We can go out of our way to create a heightened sense of eventfulness in everything we do.

Neuroscientists explain that episodic memory, things and events that happen to us, can be triggered. There are nine clinically proven properties that enable long term memory formation.

For example, they typically represented in the form of visual images. They represent short time slices of experience. And emotion tends to increase the likelihood that an event will be remembered vividly.

Proving, that we can’t force memory, but we can create conditions conducive to more memories forming. And if we are intentional about it, the knots will grow tighter on the rope that binds us.

Remember, memories are a source of inspiration and fuel. They are the invisible umbilical that creates a unique history that exists exclusively between us, one that we can lie back and bask in.

And once the soft circuits of human memory are inflamed in the right way, they can never be erased.

Unless, of course, we binge drink until we black out, vomit, and pass out on the street. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Are you creating memories or just grinding away at life?