What’s a “Memory Dividend,” and why should you be creating them?

What's a memory dividend? What can you do with 2024 to set yourself, your loved ones or your team up for them?

You might know the concept of a memory dividend intuitively - it's the *feels* you get when you relive a positive memory in your mind.

Turns out this moment has a name!

A "memory dividend" comes when you re-experience a good experience after its over.

⏳ Pause here and call to mind one of your best memories.....there - you've just gotten a memory dividend. 😉

I love memory dividends. They are a huge part of what drives me to intentionally invest in creating good memories.

Don't miss the key 🗝 - In order to GET the dividend, you have to INVEST in making the memory.

That investment usually requires a trade off - 💵 dollars spent, ⏱ time shifted from one thing towards another, 🤓 potentially getting out of your comfort zone.

And if you're like me (i.e., it can feel hard to take a break from work, or drop $$ on something that feels non-essential), considering memory dividends is a very powerful way to think about how you spend your time, money and attention.

***

Here are some of my personal highest return memory dividends.

(Author's note: my biggest dividends come when I break from the norm/what's "expected" and do something unusual. And when I've clearly traded work or money for quality time.)

📚 SELF: When I was 16, and took a break from round-the-clock (*not an exaggeration) SAT study time to spend a weekend on retreat with my friends.

🏝 FAMILY: This summer, our family vacation to a 3 mile long island that had no grocery story, one restaurant and only a golf cart for transport. Laughing on the back of the golf cart with my kids will stay with me forever.

✨ TEAM: The night I led a quiet Jeffersonian Dinner for a new team I'd hired. It was the first night of their onboarding experience - I facilitated a personal, powerful, playful conversation with strangers-turned-trusted-colleagues. (I've asked, and this memory stands out as strongly for the rest of the team as it does for me.)

***

Q for YOU: Have you heard of this concept before? Do you think it's a helpful framework to think about how you spend your time / money? What is one thing you'd recommend doing to set your team up for memory dividends?

***
PS. Hat tip to Peter Attia who interviewed Bill Perkins, author of Die with Zero, about memory dividends. This is how I learned there was a name for this powerful idea.