We should all aspire to be good people. But we shouldn’t waste our time trying to prove it to others. As Paulo Coelho says, “Be a good person, but don’t waste your time trying to prove it.”
Life is too short to spend our time trying to convince others of our goodness. We should simply focus on being the best we can be. That’s it.
“Be a good person, but don’t waste your time trying to prove it.” – Paulo Coelho
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Yesterday I built a multiplayer online Tetris game — live on the internet, real domain, real players. I wrote zero lines of code. My team of AI agents named it, built it, registered the domain, spun up the server, and deployed it in under two hours. I made coffee while it happened. The experience left me impressed, then uncomfortable. I'm getting lazier. I'm thinking less. And I'm not sure that's entirely a good thing.
Many people reach adulthood without really knowing what brings them joy. Time spent without this knowledge means lost opportunities for real happiness. Studies show people who consciously do things they enjoy score 40% higher on the happiness scale than those who don’t. We chase success, relationships and material possessions but often forget to identify what truly brings us happiness.
When you’re working on a cool software project that solves a real world problem, you’re operating from love. This intrinsic motivation is exciting. Compare that to a 9-5 job done just to maintain a lifestyle – here fear of losing financial security is the main driver.