Adding to your "junk drawer" (an an existentialist argument for doing things just because)

Image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junk_drawer

Adding to your "junk drawer"

by Jen Davies, nerd

June 24, 2026

Please let me invite you first to watch Hank Green's video, No Effort is Wasted (25 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgBaU9mmceQ

The rest of this blog will make a lot more sense.

As a career counsellor I've seen a lot of people who are concerned about the outcome of a particular effort. If I do X, will I get Y? Like, if I take on this project at work, will my boss give me a raise? I see a similar concern in the Save #TheHuntforBenSolo fan campaign. If we do Z can we be sure to get a Ben Solo movie?

And the answer to both of those questions is unsatisfying. As wise scientist and negotiator Ben Franklin gets credit for telling us, the only guarantees in life are death and taxes. We can rarely be 100% certain of the outcome of a social behaviour because people are complex.

Occasionally someone will then express the idea that maybe they shouldn't bother doing X if Y is not a guarantee. Let me disagree for two reasons: in trying something we have the opportunity to learn from the doing, and doing nothing only works sometimes in my experience (whereas doing something is a lot more likely to make something happen). And I'll wrap up this blog entry with some observations, as Hank also makes, about the magic of finding something in your own personal "junk drawer" when you need it.

The opportunity to try something = learning

A great part of Hank's point in his video (encourage watching if you skipped it, link above) is that trying something is always an opportunity to learn even if the thing itself doesn't work out. Visionary Nelson Mandela said, I never lose: Either I win, or I learn. 

You might call this developing transferable skills and knowledge that you don't know you're going to use one day. 

And you never know when you might need a skill from the junk drawer. Some personal examples: Knowledge of power generation and related engineering that I gained from a short-lived job? Needed it to support a counselling client just this week. Understanding marketing-related data for assessing impact? Using that for supporting www.savebensolo.com (here are my videos). I'm in my mid-40s and I'm a try-er so I have a fairly full junk drawer.

A guarantee: doing nothing only works sometimes

I will preface this section with a disclaimer: I am an existentialist at heart. Sartre wrote (I'm paraphrasing): Don't just stand there, DO SOMETHING! And in that you exist. 

And I agree, to a great extent we exist in what we do. If I have done nothing, to whom do I exist? Who did I meet who knows I'm here? Who might be impacted by the things that I've done? So who will notice when I'm no longer here, if I'm not doing things? They don't have to be big things, they can be very small things, and it doesn't have to be all the time, but actions have ripple effects. Examples: 

• Writing this blog will touch someone (for good or ill). Add to the junk drawer: I get to hone my non-academic writing skills.
• My grandmother crocheting will touch someone (via the blanket she's making). Add to the junk drawer: She keeps herself busy now that her mobility is limited.
• Creating opportunities for people who were touched by the character Ben Solo to share their enthusiasm for a movie that exists in concept at least and could still maybe happen shows the company who owns the rights that it could be profitable (which is what corporations are required to care about - see the movie The Corporation if you don't have a business education, it's very informative as to why companies do the terrible things they do sometimes). Add to the junk drawer: I've learned to record myself and others, edit videos (and add photos and now music), and I've developed relationships with people all over the place who I would not be sad at all to meet in-person. In fact I hope I can sometime.

If I choose not to be present in any sphere that interacts with other people, I can vanish and nobody will know. And I think that's sad when it happens.

There are absolutely times when doing nothing is wise. For example, if I know that doing or saying something about a decision with which I disagree at work in the heat of the moment is risking being rude or hurting feelings, it is likely wise to let it go today. Tomorrow when we're not all bothered I can bring it up and maybe get a productive solution.

Notice that's choosing intentionally to do nothing, and in some ways: that's acting! I guess an example of not-doing would be to quietly wish and wish and wish that some desired change would come about. Wishing is fine, but it's leaving the fate of whatever you're wishing about in the hands of someone else who may not prioritize doing that thing. I don't like leaving the things I need and want in someone else's hands - at the very least, I would like to try to influence the situation.

Finding that skill or knowledge you needed in your "junk drawer"

There's something exciting about discovering a skill or some knowledge in your junk drawer when you need it. It's very much like needing an elastic band, or a twist tie, and ta-da! There it is. I didn't know when or why I was going to need it, but gosh I'm sure glad I put it there.

Overall, I would like to argue that doing something is better than doing nothing a majority of the time, based on my own experience because if nothing else, doing something adds to my junk drawer. And I never know when I'm going to need something from there. Experience has taught me that I can use the things I've put in there fairly often because I've been adding to it for a long time!

#hankgreen #vlogbrothers