Assembly Required.

We’ve built an entire culture around the countdown.

Drops. Timers. Carts that expire. Offers that vanish at midnight. The thing that’s never coming back. We’ve learned to want things faster, not because we need them now, but because we’ve been told we won’t be able to have them later.

It’s effective, of course. Scarcity speaks to something deep in us: the fear of missing out, the thrill of just barely getting in. There’s a rush to it, a flash of adrenaline, a rare flicker of control in the world. But when urgency becomes constant, it stops being a motivator and starts becoming a numbing force.

Because when everything is limited, nothing feels lasting. We begin to mistake speed for value, and pressure for meaning. Manufactured urgency drives behavior, but doesn't build belief.

And the audience, trained to respond, becomes just as quick to look away.