Statistically, our impact on the world follows the power law, and there are a few billions of people, so anyone’s chance of dramatically changing the world are very small, even if they are a very smart and talented individual—you also need to get to the top percentile in luck.
Also, impact is on a scale; how large “impact” are we talking about? I suspect for many people it is a moving target; that no matter how much you achieve, your definition of “real impact” quickly becomes “at least 10× as much”. And the new definition always seems sane, because—see the previous paragraph—there are almost certainly people who have already achieved 10× or 100× more.
Speaking for myself, as a teenager I had a dream that I would once write and publish a fiction book, and that seemed like an awesome achievement. Then I did it. But after a while it didn’t feel awesome at all, because it was a collection of short stories instead of a novel, it only sold 100 copies, and even the people who bought and read it probably don’t remember it by now. Then it felt that the really awesome thing would be to write a novel, even better a trilogy, plus a few extra short stories written in the same universe. Which I didn’t do. But I strongly suspect that if I did, I would find another reason to feel dissatisfied with the result: “Only one trilogy? With no cult following? No movie based on it? Heck, I can’t even quit my job and focus on writing full time...”
From the perspective of reinforcement (happiness), people around you are always more important than the world at large. You can surround yourself by people who will love you even if you do nothing world-breaking. Which is very good, especially during those days when you do nothing world-breaking (spoiler: most of your days will be like that). On the other hand, no matter what you do, someone out there will hate you for it, and will make their hate publicly known. Actually, some people will hate you simply for having a greater impact than they do, so achieving more will only make this worse. If you are surrounded by loving people, this doesn’t matter; if you are looking for universal acceptance, it will drive you crazy.
And I think there is nothing wrong with wanting to have an impact on the world, as long as (1) you treat it as an optional goal, and (2) you make sure it is something you want, as opposed to something you are manipulated into by others. Hint: you know it is something you want if you feel free to change your mind.
Wow, the paintings are awesome!
Statistically, our impact on the world follows the power law, and there are a few billions of people, so anyone’s chance of dramatically changing the world are very small, even if they are a very smart and talented individual—you also need to get to the top percentile in luck.
Also, impact is on a scale; how large “impact” are we talking about? I suspect for many people it is a moving target; that no matter how much you achieve, your definition of “real impact” quickly becomes “at least 10× as much”. And the new definition always seems sane, because—see the previous paragraph—there are almost certainly people who have already achieved 10× or 100× more.
Speaking for myself, as a teenager I had a dream that I would once write and publish a fiction book, and that seemed like an awesome achievement. Then I did it. But after a while it didn’t feel awesome at all, because it was a collection of short stories instead of a novel, it only sold 100 copies, and even the people who bought and read it probably don’t remember it by now. Then it felt that the really awesome thing would be to write a novel, even better a trilogy, plus a few extra short stories written in the same universe. Which I didn’t do. But I strongly suspect that if I did, I would find another reason to feel dissatisfied with the result: “Only one trilogy? With no cult following? No movie based on it? Heck, I can’t even quit my job and focus on writing full time...”
From the perspective of reinforcement (happiness), people around you are always more important than the world at large. You can surround yourself by people who will love you even if you do nothing world-breaking. Which is very good, especially during those days when you do nothing world-breaking (spoiler: most of your days will be like that). On the other hand, no matter what you do, someone out there will hate you for it, and will make their hate publicly known. Actually, some people will hate you simply for having a greater impact than they do, so achieving more will only make this worse. If you are surrounded by loving people, this doesn’t matter; if you are looking for universal acceptance, it will drive you crazy.
And I think there is nothing wrong with wanting to have an impact on the world, as long as (1) you treat it as an optional goal, and (2) you make sure it is something you want, as opposed to something you are manipulated into by others. Hint: you know it is something you want if you feel free to change your mind.