The Stonehenge Effect
Most of us are familiar with Stonehenge, the mysterious arrangement of massive stone pillars found in Britain, shaped somewhat like the mathematical symbol for Pi. It is generally believed to have been created thousands of years ago and associated with Celtic and Druidic traditions.
Stonehenge evokes curiosity.
Mystery.
A longing for lost knowledge.
And, of course, it has also provided artistic inspiration for the likes of Spinal Tap.
I did a quick search on what current scholars believe the primary purposes of Stonehenge may have been, and generally three ideas emerged:
A seasonal calendar aligned with the summer and winter solstices
A burial and remembrance site
A gathering place that unified different tribes and social groups
What I am calling “The Stonehenge Effect” is mostly metaphorical and somewhat tongue-in-cheek, or I would not have brought up Spinal Tap.
But I do think there is something useful hidden inside the metaphor.
When we trigger The Stonehenge Effect in our own lives, I think we are more likely to cultivate:
intuitive knowing
a stronger sense of timing and seasonality
the ability to let things go
increased and focused energy
eventual integration
Today, I particularly want to focus on the idea of increased and focused energy because I think it has enormous implications for both reaching FIRE and radically designing a life we love.
If we accept the premise from the book Your Money or Your Life that money represents life energy, then our ability to increase and direct our energy becomes one of the central challenges of financial independence itself.
When our energy is scattered, our progress tends to become scattered too.
We diffuse our attention.
We divide our commitments.
We drain ourselves across too many directions at once.
And eventually, many of us sputter out.
The same principle applies to lifestyle design.
We are not merely trying to do certain things that support our envisioned lifestyle. We are also attempting to become the kind of person who naturally lives that lifestyle.
That means both behavior and identity matter.
Taking action generates momentum.
Focused action generates energy.
And identity helps sustain consistency.
When you are exhausted, distracted, discouraged, or tempted to stop, what keeps you moving?
Often, it is identity.
You continue because somewhere inside you believe:
“I am someone who does this.”
You identify as the kind of person who shows up, follows through, and lives in alignment with certain values and commitments.
And I think two additional things help sustain this process.
First, we want to live in alignment with our cherished values because that alignment allows us to feel more authentic and truthful in the way we live. This is key to developing the freedom to live your truth.
Second, we develop a better sense of timing and seasonality.
We learn when to push.
When to rest.
When to recover.
When to simplify.
When to let something go.
Lately, I’ve been noticing two primary ways I tend to scatter my own energy:
digital distractions and too many open loops.
A couple weeks ago, Cal Newport discussed a study on his podcast Deep Questions involving participants who removed mobile internet usage from their lives for two full weeks.
The study began with a fairly large group, but only around 30% of participants completed the full experiment.
That fact alone says something.
Now, part of the issue is practical. Modern life increasingly assumes constant mobile connectivity. People need boarding passes, banking apps, maps, messaging, and countless other forms of digital access simply to navigate ordinary life.
Still, the participants who completed the study experienced some interesting outcomes:
improved attention spans
better reported mental health
greater subjective well-being
more real-life social interaction
improved sleep
greater self-control
Those sound to me like outcomes associated with focused rather than fragmented energy.
And then there is the issue of open loops.
Here’s a simple example from my own life.
I’m actually fairly disciplined with email. I usually process it once or twice per day and try not to spend excessive time there.
But I remain subscribed to many mailing lists.
And often I’ll receive a notice about an upcoming event, opportunity, course, trip, or item for sale and think:
“Oh, I might want to do that.”
So I leave the email sitting there.
Not because I’ve decided yes.
Not because I’ve decided no.
But because I want to preserve the possibility.
And while that may sound harmless, every unresolved possibility consumes a small amount of psychic energy.
Each one quietly whispers:
“Don’t forget about me.”
Often those emails sit there for days or weeks before I eventually delete them anyway.
Now, this is not necessarily terrible. Part of it reflects openness, curiosity, and a willingness to explore possibilities.
But part of it also reflects resistance to fully accepting the reality of time, energy, and limitation.
Because the truth is:
everything costs something.
Every commitment requires time.
Attention.
Energy.
Money.
Focus.
Life itself.
And many possibilities only exist because modern digital systems constantly place them in front of us.
If the email had never arrived, I never would have spent energy considering the option in the first place.
That’s kind of a strange thing to think about, isn’t it?
Anyway, that was a lot for one article, and I suspect I’ll come back to these ideas again in future posts.
But for today, I’ll leave you with two questions:
In what areas of your life is your energy being scattered?
And what is one thing you could let go of, eliminate, simplify, or finally decide in order to reclaim and focus more of your life energy?