If the martial artists who founded the styles I practice kept everything they learned to themselves… and the art died with them… even if they were incredibly successful as individuals… would this be a success?
If the experts who have innovated, built, and molded the world into what it eventually became… instead decided to innovate, build, and mold only their own property and personal world… and all of their knowledge, wisdom, and insight died with them… would this be a success?
If the greatest artists who have ever lived, across every domain, never shared their art, creations, or techniques with a broader audience… and instead only hung the fruits of their labor within the walls of their own homes… and it all died with them… would this be a success?
…My thought is that there’s no shame in living a private life. But it’s also hard to imagine success without contribution and/or a carried on legacy.
Most of the success metrics people chase in our modern world do nothing for succession—and only but tickle our egos. But, if we can change that and focus on real contribution… and on teaching people how to fish rather than just on how we can leave them bigger and bigger piles of fish after we’re gone… maybe our daily efforts won’t leave behind that sometimes questionable/ fishy smell.