U we all want our voices to be heard. Why would we bother writing things down, speaking to other people, making comments on. Social media, creating works of art, painting, sculpture, whatever we partake with on a. Daily basis, getting in a team, solving problems within a company. Why would we do that if our. Voices were never heard? Now, there is an argument to be. Made for doing something just for our own fulfillment. We don't necessarily require an audience.
If we were alone on an island, there would probably still be things we would do. I know there's things I would still do. If there were books available, I would. Still read, if there were sticks and. Tools around that I could use, I would attempt to build things. There are activities I would continue to. Partake in, but that isn't normal society. Normal society is meant to be done in groups. We solve problems by working together. We have a tribal nature to us. And people work as collectives.
And so whenever we do something, voice an opinion, something about our experience, whenever. We make something, build something, create something. The idea is that we want at least somebody to hear it, somebody to. See it, we want our presence to have an impact. And I think it's a very hollow feeling to feel otherwise. And so, even though the ultimate goal. Of creating or building whatever it is that you bring to the world is really for maybe your own experience, and.
For you to enjoy and learn things. About reality, about life, through the toil, through the struggle, there's always an aspect on our minds about the audience, because we want our work to be seen and heard by somebody. We want to have that impact. We all want our voices to be heard, but the reality is, most of. Us will never live to see much of an audience. I mean, that's just statistically true. The ceos of the biggest companies, they.
Have a lot, very much of the same story as the ceos who don't. Make it, but most don't make it. And so both voices are deserving to be heard, but it's only going to be the ones that do make it kind of at the top. Most authors are not going to be. Known, most sculptors and painters, most of any category of any enterprise, any human activity. The overwhelming majority of individuals will not be well known or famous or have a big platform. The overwhelming majority of people who go.
On social media are going to have. Maybe a few hundred followers. They're not going to get into the millions like some people with the very large platforms. And so while we all want our voices to be heard, and that that's. Important, some audience is important. The reality is most of us will never live to see much of an audience. We'll kind of have our tight group of followers. Maybe that's family and friends. Maybe it stretches a bit beyond that through social media.
Maybe it's the people in your company. Maybe it's the people at your church. Or whatever institution you might affiliate yourself. With. A research group. But for the most of us, it's. Not going to extend much beyond that. And I think there is something soul sapping about that, because we do want. Our voices to be heard. I think it can be difficult to.
Bring yourself to your work every day knowing that in this lifetime there's a. Good chance that not that many people are going to hear it or read. It or see it. And that is a bit soul sapping. Again, we really should be doing work. Just for the sake of our own fulfillment and kind of just enjoy that experience and let whatever benefit might come. Out of that be kind of a natural byproduct, right? Hopefully we are working on things that. Could be useful, that are worth hearing.
And using or building upon. We want our contributions to add to the world in some sense, we want. Our voices to be heard. But the reality is most of us. Have a very kind of tight, small. Group that will ever consume that. And that's not all bad. Of course, sometimes tight smaller groups are even better. They can be more authentic. You'll get less harassment or just less noise. Let's say it tends to be a. Greater signal to noise ratio in smaller groups. But we all want our voices to be heard.
And I think we all know that feeling of putting effort into the things. That we're passionate about and sometimes feeling. Like we're kind of just screaming into a void. Even within tight groups, everybody's doing their own thing. They can only care about what you're doing so much. Statistically, we're not going to have this large platform. Statistically, we're not going to be famous. Or super well known or just have. This large platform that we could speak. To a lot of people.
And sometimes that can feel a bit soul sapping because there's so much energy. And passion that we put into our work. To only have a very few people. Ever consume it is a bit disheartening. I think a lot of us can relate to that. But what I'm going to argue in. This episode is that we need to. Realize that we're not just speaking to today's generation. In fact, it's probably better to think of our work as not really being for today's generation, and I'll explain kind. Of the mechanism behind it.
But if you're going to write a book, there's a very, very high chance that only so many people are ever going to read this thing. But that's just in your lifetime, because. You'Ve put your thoughts, your experience, into. Some permanent form down on paper that's not going to go away after you die. There is almost a kind of immortality to it. And as that lives on, there is the chance that future generations could stumble. Across what you have written down, or.
What art you have produced or sculpture you've made. However, you've contributed to a group under some program within some institution, if it has some kind of tangible form to it, that will live beyond you, and. There is a chance that a future. World, a future generation will maybe more. Greatly appreciate what you have done. Now, of course, there's still statistically no guarantee that that's going to happen, but. I think it is important that we.
Realize that we're not just speaking to today's generation. In fact, we're not really speaking to today's generation. At all. You could almost say, or barely. I mean, I hope that the things that I speak about on a podcast. Or things that I write about, I. Hope that there obviously are people today listening. In fact, I know in this podcast. I have listeners, and that means the. World to me, that people today, the words that I speak, it resonates with. Them in some way.
And hopefully the repeat listeners are obviously. Finding something useful, something to anchor their lives around with the words that I speak. And that means everything to me. But it's bigger than that. And I think all of our work is a lot bigger than just what's in our lifetime, because there are many. Generations ahead of us, assuming the world doesn't destroy itself. And I think that's something to remain. Cognizant of as we work, as long. As our efforts are put into some.
Tangible form, which I think it should be. I don't think our words, our thoughts, should just be relegated to our thoughts. Alone within our minds. I think it's almost our duty to. Put it out there. If it's important to you, no matter whether or not there's anyone today to. Listen or not, I think it's on you to get it out there in. Some form, in some tangible form. I don't mean get it out there like think about a big audience, necessarily. But something that could be found at a later date.
Maybe the lineage of your family passes it through generation. Maybe it gets stumbled upon by a student in a future classroom. It's not for us to know, and it's not for us to get worried about what our legacy is going to be. All we can do is bring our authentic work to the table in some tangible form and let history decide what its impact is going to be. Let future generations come across it maybe at some point. And even if it's never a big. Audience, through time, over the span of.
Time, if certain small groups of people. Keep stumbling upon something that you have. Written, then over time, that is quite. A bit of an audience. And so I think we need to. Realize that we're not really speaking to today's generation because the world the way it is now, there's no reason for it to necessarily understand or appreciate the truth that you're bringing to the canvas. Or to the paper. Because hopefully what you're talking about or. What you're doing you think is fairly.
Important, if not profound. And the reason why you think it's important or profound is because it stands in juxtaposition to the world around you. You're looking at the world and there's. Something that you don't agree with, or. There'S something that you think should be focused on more intently. There's good aspects and bad aspects, and you want to highlight or strengthen the. Good aspects of what's around us. And presumably that is in some form. Or another going into your work.
I don't think you can get passionate. Or interested even in things that are totally status quo and that are run up the mill and that are just. The way things are. I think that we are trying to bring a level of innovation. We're trying to bring something new, or. At least shed light on something that. Hasn'T been given its due attention throughout. History or in the current world. And so that means that in many.
Ways, there's little reason to believe that today's world is going to grant you a large audience. But that's okay, because there are many. Future generations ahead of us. And people from all walks of life. May stumble upon what you've put into. Permanent form, and it could mean something. To them, even if it's one additional. Person after you're gone. That one person could get inspired by. Your words or by your work in. Order to invent something new, do their own level of innovation.
And of course, it just kind of. Spreads out and fractals out from there. So, look, we all want our voices to be heard. That's normal. We want to feel like we have an impact. It's pretty soul sapping to think about the prospect of having no audience. Someone, hopefully, is appreciating what we do. But the reality is most of us. Will never have much of an audience in our lifetime. But we need to realize that in. The work that we do, we're not really speaking to today's generation.
I think we should think of it as speaking to future generations. If there's nobody who's going to read. Your book while you're alive, that's not a reason not to write the book, or write the blog post, or make the podcast, or draw, create the painting, the sculpture, to bring your genuine, authentic. Voice in some tangible form to the group that you're working to the institution you're associated with. We need to step back and think. About the more holistic time span of.
Our world, which goes for hundreds of thousands of thousands of years. Right? And who's to say what the impact of our work will really be here now, it might not seem like much, might not really be much, but who's to say? As long as you're willing to put it into some tangible form that persists. Who'S to say it won't continue to. Impact the Od person, or maybe even. A lot of people down the road? And I think that's a better, more realistic, more rational perspective to take on your work.
And if you do that, I think you'll find that it's more motivating when. You realize your audience is far larger. Than just the people on earth today. Because there's many generations to go, and. The world's going to change throughout those generations, and they will think different things are important at different times. And if you have laid down what. You thought was important now, who's to say that that won't be deeply appreciated for generations to come, even though you're.
Unlikely to be here to see that, right? You won't be here to see that. Let's look at some examples. Some people throughout history who became just renowned for their work, but they weren't. Alive to see it, because when they brought it to the world they were. In, that world wasn't ready for them. They weren't ready for that message. They couldn't appreciate van Gogh, or if British van Gogh or if Dutch van Hoch.
That's my best dutch post impressionist painter we've all heard know he's now considered. One of the greatest artists in history. But during his lifetime, he had all. These struggles with mental illness and poverty, and above all, a lack of recognition. During van Gogh's lifetime, he was essentially unknown, and he actually considered himself a failure. And he ended up dying before his work really gained widespread acclaim. But, of course, today, as we all know, his paintings are among the most.
Valuable and sought after in the. Dickinson. Sorry. You know, she's this american poet who. Lived a very reclusive life and only. Published, really, a handful of her poems during her lifetime. Now, Dickinson was extremely prolific, though, and. She would actually enclose poems in letters to friends. And she was not publicly recognized during her lifetime.
But after her death, her sister discovered a cache of over 1800 poems that she had written, and they were eventually published to, of course, great acclaim. And today, in a different world, different time, not for Dickinson to see, but. Dickinson is regarded as one of the. Greatest american poets of all time. There's Franz Kafka. Kafka was a czech writer who died, really, before his work became widely known.
I mean, he was virtually unknown during his lifetime, but he didn't consider fame important. That's not why he did his work. But he did rise to fame rapidly. After his death, particularly after World War II. He has a number of novels of know. For example, the trial was published posthumously. And really, he's become a major classic since his death. Of modernist literature. We have Frida Callo, the mexican artist. Who suffered from chronic pain and health. Issues throughout her life.
But despite all those challenges, she did continue to create vibrant and emotional paintings. And just really depicted her own experiences on the canvas. And after her death, her work gained international recognition, moderately successful while she was alive, but it really took off after. Her death at an international level. And there's all kinds of examples. Alan Turing, right, the british mathematician, computer. Scientist, and code breaker, obviously made all.
Kinds of significant contributions to the development of artificial intelligence and just computing in general. And despite all that groundbreaking work, he. Was prosecuted for homosexuality. He died by suicide in 1954. And so during his lifetime, there was. Obviously a great deal of prejudice and. Depression and only so much knowledge that any of his work would have the kind of impact it has. But ever since his death, there's just been this growing recognition of Turing's achievements.
And today he's really celebrated as one of the core main figures in computing and AI. And there's all kinds of examples like this. And so I bring up these examples. Because these are renowned individuals who, during. Their life, either thought they were failures or had no idea the impact that their work would have had at a later date. And of course, there's just many people, maybe even most, that are. That are like this. You get some level of success during.
The lifetime, but the real impact comes a lot later. And all of these people, they wanted their voices to be heard. They were writing or whatever, painting, whatever their work was, they were doing it for a reason. They felt that it was important. It wasn't just for themselves, even if. That was the ultimate reason for some of them. They, like all of us, wanted their. Voice to be heard, but they didn't. Have anywhere near the audience that they had later.
And many actually died believing that they. Were failures, but they weren't really speaking to their generation, right? To some extent, sure, there was probably some tight circle of people who appreciated their work and maybe gave them just. Enough motivation to keep going, depending on. The individual, but they weren't really speaking to their generation. They were speaking to the generations that came after. Which, of course, all these examples that I gave, all those individuals did.
And so many more examples, the Mozart. There's just so many people did not know the impact that they would have had later. And our own impact does not need. To be the level of the Turings. And the kafkas of the world, necessarily. But it's still true that if we. Put our work down on paper, so. To speak, if we bring it to some tangible form, that there will be. A legacy there, and there will be future generations that could stumble upon it. And at that point, let history decide.
The importance of our work. But the audience is truly far bigger than just the current generation you're in. And so I think the mechanism behind. All this is know the world that. Appreciates and uses a given truth will. Always look different than the world where. The truth was found. If you think about a lot of these people, the Vincent van Gogh's, the. Emily Dickinson, Franz Kafka, Frida Callo, Alan Turing, you know, the Mozart's.
They were bringing what they brought to the world because in many ways, because. The world they were in was not like their work. It was not as beautiful as their painting. It was not as formed and structured as the sculpture. It was not as true or rational or logical or spiritual or whatever it. Is that was written down on paper at the time. And that's why they felt compelled to bring it.
The world that appreciates and uses a given truth will always look different than the world where the truth was found. And so right now, whatever it is. You'Re doing, you're in a world that. In many ways is not commensurate to your philosophy or your words or your. Truths, whatever it is you're bringing to the world. But that's why? This is the generation in which you're finding that truth. That struggle needs to be there, that friction needs to be there for you. To find that truth.
But that doesn't mean it's this generation that's going to appreciate it. Statistically, it's not going to be. This generation appreciates your words, and you. Might think they're pretty insignificant. That's not for you to decide. You might know they're important or believe they're profound, but at the same time, you might think there's nobody there to listen to you. Well, maybe there isn't anybody in this generation.
But if you put it into a form that can last longer than you, then there is a chance that there's. A future generation out there, past your. Life, that will actually appreciate the truth that you were able to find in. This generation that couldn't appreciate it. Okay? So I said at the beginning, we go through life. Look, we all want our voices to be heard to some extent. I think it's soul sapping to think. That nobody's listening to us.
And I think it's easy to think that, statistically, most of us are not. Operating on a large platform, and most. Of us will never live to see much of an audience compared to people that become renowned. But we need to realize that we're not really speaking to today's generation. It's this world that sets up the contrast so that we can bring forth the truth. But it's the future generations that are. There to appreciate and understand it, because. Their world will look different, and maybe.
Their world will be one that's ready to understand the wisdom of what you. Have brought to the table. And I think this applies to anybody. Don't fall into this kind of nonsense. You know, I could never be a van Gogh. I could never be a Dickinson. I'm nothing like Turing or Kafka. They didn't think so either. Okay? And you don't need to be at that level anyway. Because, again, even if it's just a few people each generation, over time, that can mean a lot.
That can still be enough important people that maybe benefited from your words. But we need to realize that we're. Not speaking truly to today's generation. Bring that knowledge. Be cognizant of that as you do your work. And I think there's two kind of levers we can pull here, two things that we can do. One, make sure your voice has some form of permanence. Turn it into something tangible. Don't keep it locked up. Don't keep it just in conversation. Put it down on paper.
Write a blog post, make a podcast. Maybe write a book. But it doesn't have to be that big. Create a painting, a sketch, do a sculpture. Work with a team to build something. That will last longer than you. So one, make your voice have some form of permanence. And two, create. Knowing that your potential audience extends well. Beyond this life, I think it's important to understand that the audience is far larger than just what is contained within your life. And that if you write what you.
Know, even if nobody today is listening. It can still have meaning to future generations. We all want our voices to be heard. Most of us are never going to live to see much of an audience, but we need to realize that we're not speaking to today's generation. There's countless examples throughout history that this is how it works. And the mechanism behind this is that the world that appreciates and uses a given truth will always look different than the world where the truth was found.
Write what you know, even if nobody today is listening. Okay, that's it for this episode. Thanks so much for listening. Until the next one. Take care. Gonna you.