“Greatness” is Overrated. Contentment is Much Better.

In the animated series Avatar: the Last Airbender, the protagonist Aang reaches a point where he must make a terrible choice: choose ultimate power to defeat the evil Fire Lord (which meant abandoning his loved ones), or stay with his loved ones and find a different way.

He finds advice from an expected source: the brother of the Fire Lord, the once-King of the fire nation. He tells Aang:

“Perfection and power are overrated. I think you are very wise to choose happiness and love.”

I’ve thought a lot about “greatness” over the years. There were many years in my 20s where I sincerely believed that I was the most ambitious person I’d ever heard of. I was willing to do anything to achieve success (which for me, meant entering the “two comma club” — earning $1,000,000 dollars through my business). I would do anything. Anything. Wake up early every day for months to work? No problem. Stay up late every night to work some more? Way ahead of you, pal. Destroy any obstacle like a wood chipper eating through a forest of trees? That’s me, baby. I understood that the only thing standing in the way of “greatness” was me, and that I could have it if I wanted it badly enough.

All this was going great (actually, it was going terribly, but I was too blinded by ambition to realize or admit it)…