It was an epiphanic moment. There I was, scrolling through my Instagram when I ran into a reel that has been the theme of my current life. A question that I otherwise wouldn’t have expected to have so much weight and impact stared at me. It asked, “Does it really matter?”.
Of late, I have been giving a lot of profession-based examples. Honestly, I think it’s because of the phase of life that I and a huge portion of my audience here are in. Many of us on here are trying to figure out what we are going to do for the rest of our lives. So, to illustrate the subject of this post, I think I’ll stay on this path. For the sake of relatability.
I know most of y’all have gotten to know me either as a writer or a music enthusiast. And maybe a few of y’all know me as a superhero (even though I have no evidence to prove the credibility of this statement). However, when I’m not writing, playing the guitar or “saving the world”, I am a highly motivated accounting and finance student. Please don’t read in between the lines.
But really, sarcasm aside, I am actually growing to love some branches of this field that I chose by elimination. Also, just to put it out there, I’m pretty sure God saw that I was never meant to be a doctor. So I think I’m on the right path.
Over the years I have gotten to appreciate the many things that the field of accounting and finance has to offer and had the privilege of learning things that are applicable beyond the boundaries within which they exist. There are certain things among the things I have learnt that seem to have stuck with me permanently. One such example being the concept of materiality. I wish to reimagine this concept with you.
But first, an introduction.
As is expected, one of the first things that one has to learn when introduced to a new subject is the principles or rules that govern that topic. Hence it is worth mentioning that the materiality concept is one of the principles in presenting accounting information.
The materiality concept is an accounting standard that basically illustrates the importance of including what accountants deem as material items in the presentation of financial statements. Material items being those items which if included or excluded, would have an effect on the decision making of users of the said financial statements.
Deeper thought.
I think it’s easy to see how the concept of materiality can apply to real life. Borrowing from last week’s post on opportunity cost, it has been established that we are constantly making decisions. Therefore, we can also say that we are constantly deciding whether something is material or not.
Maybe the question “Does it really matter?” is a question that can really help us decide whether something is material not. A question that we perhaps may need to ask more often.
In the reel that I described at the beginning of this post, this question was in response to a feeling of awkwardness when taking footage in public. I’m pretty sure we have all been there, and I know for a fact that this is something that a lot of content creators face in the early days of their creative journey. I guess it just feels foreign from what we are used to. So, we tend to shy away from certain opportunities, whatever they may be.
Could it be that we are concerned with how people will respond? Judging by what I have seen from most people, I think this is often the case. There’s something about the pressure that comes with doing something that you really want to do. I feel like often we get wrapped up in thinking about how people will respond, which is not an entirely bad thing, but it also isn’t an optimal way to live.
What if whenever we felt this pressure we asked the question “Does it really matter?”. Could this possibly change how we approach such moments? I ask because I have personally done this, and the results have been astonishing. Granted, this is coming from someone who typically doesn’t struggle much in this area, but I think there is still significance in what has come out of this experience.
This is something that I would personally recommend you try out whenever you feel the pressure to not do something that you really want to do. Sometimes you’ll realise that the pressure you feel is more internal than external. And although I don’t want to predict what the outcomes of your experience will be, I have a feeling that it will yield good fruit.
Still on getting the most out of life.
The idea of getting the most out of life was introduced last week and I think I’m starting to consider it something that is worth spending some time on. We all want to get the most out of life, and this is but another side of the story.
I guess there are many reasons why I would opt for not shying away from certain things. One of them being that I don’t think being viewed as weird or anything similar is material to me. So sometimes the pressure isn’t as present because to me, it doesn’t really matter. And I guess that’s the point I wish to stress more than anything else. The point that we need to get to a place where were able to determine what really matters to us in the big picture of things.
Conclusion
The conclusion for this one is simple, we may find that we actually spend so much time worried about things that don’t even matter, things that are immaterial. And while we may be presented with many opportunities in the course of our lives, we will only be able to make the most of the ones we don’t shy away from.
Hey! Thanks for reading this post. I’m interested in hearing what your thoughts are so please leave a comment below. Also if you liked this post please consider leaving a like and subscribe for more. See you in the next one!
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