Look at the diagram from Canadian psychologist Paul T. P. Wong. The horizontal axis shows life’s outcome, from failure to success. Here, it’s about hitting Ego goals: comfort, wealth, fame, and so on.
The vertical axis runs from Emptiness below to Meaningful Fulfillment above—a transcendent Mission, serving not “I” but a Greater Purpose.
Four paths emerge.
“Wasted Life” sits bottom left, where nothing worked out, big or small. Bottom right, we see “Shallow Life.” It seems that a person has reached the desired heights, but for some reason, he feels unbearably nauseous.
The paradox: man feeds his Ego, yet stays hungry.
Even a “Sacrificial Life,” top left, satisfies more. The Greater Purpose may not be reached, but he gave all he had. Others will carry on his work.
The ideal? When personal goals merge with the Mission. Then a person is not an airplane stuck in Earth’s atmosphere but a spaceship piercing through it, heading toward another planet.
Question: Which path feels like your life? Answering sparks change.
Sincerely yours,
-Alexander
About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.
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