There was a professor I had in college who said you should write your introduction last, a piece of advice which always puzzled me. I wonder if he was onto something though. This is because sometimes we are so hasty to introduce ourselves that we forget the rest.

I am not trying to introduce some metaphysical principle of the fact that we miss time by writing (or living) introductory parts while we don’t get into the so-called meat of things. (Or that might be just what I’m trying to say.)

Here’s an example, and read it as a question: why do people say, “Hey, I’m Joseph, and I studied aeronautical engineering,” rather than saying outright: “Hey, I’m Joseph, and I am an astronaut.”

Perhaps the example strikes as extreme, but it is a paradigmatic shift in my view. I think it increases self-accountability, but let’s leave the theory for later.

That is, if it’s Joseph’s dream to be an astronaut, why would he not introduce himself as an astronaut? Or if he has even already completed many prerequisites for being an astronaut, why not introduce himself as one? Why not introduce ourselves as our dream professions? Why not introduce ourselves as what we want to be, rather than what we think we are?

You see, there’s a phenomenon out there called “minimization.” I won’t get into the psychology of it too much, but I think what it means to me is that we minimize what we are or want to be. For example, instead of calling myself, “translator, philosopher, writer, musician, and reader extraordinaire,” I could say, “Hey, I am into writing,” and leave it at that. (I forgot that I’m a poet, too, in the first.) But you get my point, correct? One introduction is far more forceful than the other. You could even say it has more energy than the other in a metaphysical or physical sense. I don’t write much about physics, but there are certain laws of the universe that go something like, “An object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an opposing force,” and if you’re a physicist, please refrain from correcting me, as I don’t have the proper impersonal status of the “Laws of Physics,” but please spare me if you notice something incorrect in my statement of said “Law of Physics.” What I really intend with my statement of the laws of physics is that the fact that I am all of those things tends to keep me in motion toward those goals. If I state that I am an “aspiring writer,” then all I will do is “aspire,” which is not necessarily my goal. So, there you go, a theory of motivation.

So I guess take that with the knowledge that I don’t intend to cause a theory of motivation into the world, all I do is observe, and generate interesting patterns about important matters to me. If this matters to you, then, so be it.