I've been somewhat active on LinkedIn this year, in part because I was looking for a job, but also because I was somehow owning the algorithm. Mind you, I don't think it benefitted me, but whatever. I'm starting to think that I need to uninstall that app, too, because it's turning into the noise and nonsense that the rest of the previously-social online world is. It's full of Type-A people who define life and identity by the hustle and the showy stuff that doesn't interest me.
I'm sure you know about the usual stories and anecdotes about people on their deathbed, able to explain life's value in terms of their relationships, or regret in emphasizing making money or relentlessly pursuing a career. I don't think I'll be one of the latter people, but lately I remember that it's important to keep scope in context relative to success.
Success can come by way of the simplest actions. Helping someone with literally anything is success. It's not curing cancer, but I really do think that anything you do to enable others, or make things a little easier, is succeeding at life. I find it incomprehensible that anyone wouldn't live that way. If your talents make it possible to take huge swings that benefit a ton of people, by all means, pursue that. But if "keeping up with the Joneses" is how you live your life, that's sad.
I had a rough day. Honestly, the last week has been rough, and there's at least one unpleasant thing in front of me. But when I started looking for success, I realized that there are some things I can be really proud of, and happy about. One of the bigger things recently is that I've enabled my kid with transportation. I'm letting him use a 6-year-old, reliable car, in good condition, and it's teaching him to be responsible. A year ago, I wasn't sure if that would be a thing. There are a lot of personal reasons that's important to me, but I'll save that for another day.
That accomplishment probably doesn't mean much to anyone other than me and Simon, but getting there feels huge. If I were to list out things that I feel count as successes, it would be a pretty great list. I don't need recognition for it (well, maybe a few things wouldn't hurt), because I feel I've met challenges and "shipped the product," as we like to say in software. The scope matters to me. That's what counts.
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