What do you want to be known for?

I always thought that three of the hardest questions that everyone has to figure out for themselves are: 1) what career do you want to pursue?, 2) who do you want to marry?, 3) where do you want to live? But there is a fourth, 4) what do you want to be known for? and it’s the one that “ties them all together”, because it has more to do with “who you are” and what you “really want out of life”.

And this is hard.

All three questions are hard.

And you can always change your answer to 1-3, but it gets harder the longer you stick with them.

So for years I thought that I wanted to be known as “the creator of an epic science-fiction series”. I never really said it in public, but it was how I felt. It was what I aimed at, and well, I have been writing for a few years, but over the years it felt less and less like the “thing” that I wanted.

So I started putting it in the back of my mind, and I narrowed it down to two choices: 1 “Clear Thinker”, or 2 “Original Thinker”. The artist in me wants 2, but the strategist in me wants 1. So I will stick with 1, because I think that I will be able to reach more people with 1, and I will therefore be able to have “a larger impact on humanity” with 1.

I do think that the first three big questions are more private, and the fourth is what you present to the outside world. The first three are all about creating an unfair advantage, and the fourth is all about shooting for the moon. And I do believe that you will have to be radical about all four: you will have to feel “good” about all four of these in order to excel in life.

That’s why it’s essential to figure out all four of these questions. And your answer has to be brief. If it’s long, then you haven’t figured it out yet. And it has to be forward facing, there has to be an upside towards the future.

So, nice to meet you, I’m Jelmer, “Clear Thinker”, what about you?