“Attempt to not be successful, however moderately to be of worth.” ~Albert Einstein, tailored
I typically really feel like I used to be born into the incorrect story.
I grew up in a time when success meant one thing quieter. My father was a public faculty music trainer. We didn’t have a lot, however there was a dignity in how he carried himself. He believed in doing good work—not for recognition or wealth, however as a result of it mattered.
That perception formed me. I turned a trainer, filmmaker, and musician. And for many years, I’ve adopted an analogous path: one rooted in that means, not cash.
However someplace alongside the best way, the story modified.
Throughout me—particularly in locations like Los Angeles, the place I’ve lived and labored—I see folks working. Hustling. Branding. Monetizing. It’s not sufficient to be good anymore. You must be seen. Promoted. Scaled. Life itself has change into one thing to market.
And in that shift, I’ve felt one thing sacred go lacking.
The False Promise
I’m not in opposition to success. I need to have the ability to pay my payments, help my household, and really feel valued. However the model of success we’re fed—fame, visibility, countless productiveness—is a lie. It guarantees that means however typically delivers vacancy.
We’ve changed presence with efficiency. Care with clicks. Integrity with optimization. And the outcome? A society the place exhaustion is regular and sufficient isn’t sufficient.
Psychologists name it extrinsic motivation—doing one thing for a reward, like cash or applause. It’s not inherently dangerous. However when it dominates our lives, we lose contact with intrinsic motivation: the enjoyment of doing one thing simply because it issues to us.
When the whole lot turns into a transaction, even pleasure begins to really feel like a product.
The Shortage Sport
Typically I really feel like we’re all scrambling for crumbs. Competing for consideration, purchasers, gigs, or algorithms. Everybody attempting to outlive, to be seen, to matter.
It’s primal—like a twisted model of the hunter-gatherer intuition. However the place historical people balanced competitors with group, we’ve saved the battle and misplaced the tribe.
Now, even collaboration typically feels strategic—a way to climb, to not join. “Networking” replaces friendship. “Partnerships” change into efficiency. We’re instructed to “collaborate” so we will get forward—not as a result of it nourishes our souls.
That shortage mindset doesn’t simply form how we work. It distorts how we see ourselves. If another person is flourishing, we really feel like we’re falling behind. If we’re not being seen, we begin to doubt our value.
This isn’t simply economics. It’s religious erosion.
Capitalism and What It Forgot
I’ve been enthusiastic about capitalism—not as a political slogan, however as a cultural story. Adam Smith imagined markets constructed on freedom and mutual profit. However in the present day’s model typically rewards extraction over contribution, efficiency over presence, and particular person achieve over shared good.
Even schooling and healthcare—issues meant to uplift—are judged by effectivity, progress, and return on funding. I’ve seen faculties reduce arts applications within the title of knowledge. I’ve watched care change into content material.
And I’ve felt it in myself—this strain to show my worth with numbers, even when essentially the most significant issues I do can’t be measured.
One other Manner of Residing
I’ve hung out filming in distant indigenous communities within the southern Philippines, the place life strikes at a unique tempo. There, folks didn’t ask tips on how to monetize their objective. They lived it. Storytelling was instructing. Planting was prayer. Taking good care of elders wasn’t a chore—it was an honor.
No one was branding themselves.
However even in these locations, that lifestyle is vanishing. World markets, smartphones, and social media have arrived. The youthful technology is pulled towards trendy success. And who can blame them? Visibility guarantees energy. However what’s quietly misplaced is the rootedness of belonging.
And it’s not simply them. It’s all of us.
Do We Should Disappear?
Typically folks say, “When you don’t just like the rat race, go stay in a monastery.”
However I don’t wish to disappear. I really like music, dialog, cities, instructing. I wish to stay on the planet—not retreat from it.
So the true query turns into: Can we stay meaningfully inside this world, with out being consumed by it?
I imagine we will. The truth is, I believe we should.
There are folks in all places doing quiet, very important work: lecturers who by no means go viral, gardeners who share meals, coders who write open-source instruments, volunteers who present up with out posting about it. They aren’t trending—however they’re tending to one thing actual.
Selecting What’s Actual
I don’t have a method. I nonetheless fear about cash. I nonetheless surprise if what I do issues. However I hold coming again to this:
I’d moderately make one thing sincere that reaches ten folks than faux one thing that reaches ten thousand.
I’d moderately be current than polished. I’d moderately care than compete.
When you really feel this too—this ache, this fatigue, this quiet grief that one thing important is being misplaced—you’re not alone.
And also you’re not damaged. It’s possible you’ll be one of many ones who remembers.
Remembers what it feels prefer to hear deeply. To offer with out scoring factors. To stay from the within out, not the skin in.
That remembering isn’t weak spot. It’s your compass. And even in a monetized world, it nonetheless factors you dwelling.
The Fact Beneath the Lie
Right here’s what I’ve discovered: Success, as we’re taught to outline it, is a transferring goal. You possibly can chase it for many years and nonetheless really feel empty.
However that means—actual, soul-deep that means—is one thing we will return to at any second. It’s in how we love. How we present up. How we make others really feel. It’s within the work we do when nobody is watching.
We might not be capable to change the entire system. However we will inform a more true story.
One the place worth isn’t based mostly on efficiency. One the place success isn’t a end line. One the place we belong—not as a result of we’re spectacular, however as a result of we’re human.
That story remains to be potential. And it’s value telling.
About Tony Collins
Tony Collins is a documentary filmmaker, educator, and author whose work explores creativity, caregiving, and private progress. He’s the writer of: Home windows to the Sea—a transferring assortment of essays on love, loss, and presence. Artistic Scholarship—a information for educators and artists rethinking how artistic work is valued. Tony writes to mirror on what issues—and to assist others really feel much less alone.