Live Bold, Die Proud

Today, I felt overwhelmed by the goals I want to achieve this year—and honestly, that’s quite counterproductive. Despite having numerous projects underway, I still find myself yearning for something more, like a beast thirsting for power. I’m not entirely sure why.

In life, you feel proud of yourself when you do something meaningful with your time. My philosophy is that you should be proud of what you do—anytime. And that also means reflecting on what actually makes you proud—which is, by far, the toughest part.

“Anytime” means: as much right now as when you’re old and slowly dying—do something that makes you proud. Because you can die at any time. That’s how life works. It’s just a matter of probability: cumulative probability from all the risk factors you face every day, and increasing probability simply because, from a biological standpoint, old people are designed to die.

Being proud of yourself depends on who you are and what goals you’re after. But in any case, it’s the most important question you can ask yourself. Maybe you’re proud if you’ve made people happy, created something useful, pushed yourself hard during a run, made it to the Olympics in any discipline, landed a job at a company you don’t love but that gives you the prestige you always wanted, produced a music album that reached a thousand views, fought for a cause that genuinely helps others, made your first million, inspired someone with a single speech, gave your partner a thoughtful gift—or maybe it’s the accumulation of a few of those things.

Whatever it is, it eventually makes you proud. Or happy—those are kind of the same, at least in this context. If you’re proud, you’re probably happy. And you’re probably not happy if you’ve just binge-watched a dumb show instead of doing something meaningful that could’ve made you proud. It goes both ways.

You discover what makes you proud by trying. That’s why you should dare to take the opportunity when you’re hesitant—especially when that hesitation doesn’t involve real physical risk. You lose absolutely nothing by trying, because you gain absolutely nothing from just sitting around overthinking and missing out on an experience that might, in turn, open new doors.

So don’t overthink. Take the opportunity to do something you might be proud of—even if it seems dumb at first.