Marginal Contributions

I think an interesting lens for thinking about life (and society) is diving into the theme of “your marginal contribution.” In this context, marginal contribution refers to the idea that what you do on this earth is unique in some way.

More specifically, it means one of two things…either that your impact to the world is differentiated and will not happen without you OR it means that your impact is in accelerating an inevitability and by making it come sooner you are doing helping your world view take shape faster.

This whole theme is rather ego-centric…who is to say that me…the one out of billions and billions of people…can find a thing or set of things worth doing in life that no one else has considered or could or actually did do in the past. The odds are so so low!

The fun part is everyone thinks that way. And most people never even try. Most people fall in line with roles that have literally zero marginal impact on society. They fall in roles that tell them what is important, what to do, and how to think.

This is fine as it aligns with people’s priorities.

But I am not inspired by that. I do not get energy by falling into a manufacturing job and completing orders.

Perhaps ignorant and naive of me to think, at least a bit surely, but I think there is something, some theme out there that I can do to contribute to my marginal impact. It it this that really inspires me…the opportunity to accelerate my world view (something I believe to be better for the world) and distribute it to more people.

I could be wrong. I could fail a lot. I probably will!

But I will not stop willing my thesis into existence. It will evolve. Change. Adapt. I will too!

The only constant, therefore, is desire and energy. Cannot hold those back.