We’re so often told we can’t control the future, that if we want something to happen, we have to be in the moment and not see it as a threat. However, this is a false assumption. We can’t control the future because we don’t have control over our present.
It’s like when someone tells you to put a fork in your hand and move it to the side and then you see that your palm is now facing the opposite direction, you know you’ve been told to move your hand. You can’t just move it to the side, you have to move it to the end. If you want something to happen you must be in the moment. If you want something to happen you must be in the moment.
The way we think about things is like a series of pictures. When you see one picture, you dont really see the other pictures. When you see something that looks like its in the middle, that doesn’t mean you see the other parts. You see it because you have a series of pictures that tell you how things happened.
This “anticipatory meaning” idea can be used in other ways, such as “I don’t know what you are going to say, but I hope you say something nice”. A great way to use the “anticipatory meaning” is to write something to look like an email you wrote to yourself a few minutes ago. You can then reply to that, and it will show you what you wrote. Or you can just answer your email.
The thing with anticipatory meaning is that you dont really have to know what you wrote, it just has to make sense. As such, you can use it to create something that makes sense in its own right. For example, I recently wrote a blog about how I learned to ride a bike. I did this to give myself something to write about, yet also to make sense in terms of what I learned.
This is a lot like anticipatory meaning. You can write a blog about, say, the history of your family or your job — and then answer your email about how you feel. You can use anticipatory meaning to create something more useful or memorable than the blog itself.
I’m not a fan of “anxiously anticipating what my readers will think” because I think it can sound a bit like “wasting time” and “thinking about things you’re afraid you’ll be wrong about”. I also think there’s a difference between anticipating what your readers will think and expecting them to think something based on something you’ve read.
I think anticipatory meaning is a great way to communicate your vision or purpose to your readers. Instead of asking if you will be happy about a blog post or a tweet, ask if you will be excited to read it. Or ask if you will be proud of your accomplishment if you publish something. It makes your intentions much more clear and tangible.
I do have to say I like anticipatory meaning. I think anticipatory meaning is a great way to communicate your vision or purpose to your readers. Instead of asking if you will be happy about a blog post or a tweet, ask if you will be excited to read it. Or ask if you will be proud of your accomplishment if you publish something. It makes your intentions much more clear and tangible.
I think anticipatory meaning can help a lot. It’s a great way of explaining your motivation in writing and it makes your intentions much more clear. And if you’re going to publish something, you need to be proud of it, even if it’s just a tweet.