As humans, one of our purposes in life is to simply get better. Enhance our skills. Make more money. Help more people. To be 1% better than we were yesterday.

But in this never-ending road of self-improvement, I think we often forget to acknowledge and cherish the skills you already have. That greatness doesn’t just reside in changing who you are, but recognizing how far you’ve already come.

If you haven’t already guessed, I’m a big folklore guy. The idea behind a story being passed down through generations while still keeping its motivational premise is just fascinating.

That, and it makes for a good newsletter idea.

But I read about this old Japanese story a while ago that mirrored the idea behind the premise I just mentioned. It went like this.

In a small village carved into the side of a mountain, there lived a stonecutter. Every day, he worked under the blazing sun, chiseling rock from the mountainside to make bricks for homes and tools for workers.

It was hard work. But he never really complained. He and the entire village knew he was good at his job and so he did it every day to the best of the abilities.

One day, while hauling a heavy slab of stone through the village, he passed the mansion of a rich merchant. Wishing he could be rich and powerful like him, his wish was suddenly granted and he himself turned into a rich merchant.

Finally, he thought. This is what I deserve.

But a few days later, the sun was scorching the earth and the now merchant looked up, sweating through his gold robes, and thought, “The sun doesn’t bow to anyone. The sun is more powerful than the richest man alive.”

So once again, he wished to be the sun.

A just like that, he became the sun. But soon, he realized no matter how hard he blazed, the clouds shaded the earth and blocked his rays of light.

And so, he wished to become a cloud.

As a cloud, he covered the sky. But one day he hit a mountain. A big one. And no matter how hard he rained or how much thunder he summoned. The mountain wouldn’t budge.

So, he made one final wish. “I want to be the mountain.”

Now, he was a massive, immovable, timeless mountain. Nothing could touch him.

That was until he felt a tickle. Then another. Then another.

A small figure stood as his base. Swinging a chisel and hammering away. Day after day. Breaking him down, piece by piece.

It was a stonecutter.

The moral of the story is that this person—this power and perfection you seek—you want to become in life already resides within you. Despite the skills you wish to learn and the habits you want to create, this perfect version of you already exists. And you don’t need to wish or imagine your way to the top. You just need to look inside and realize you’re already him/her.

Life isn’t always about becoming a better version of yourself. Sometimes, it’s just about being happy with the version you are now.

And I don’t know about you, but I think that’s enough.

Until next time,
Isaiah Taylor

Dive Deeper

What I’m Currently Reading - I’m still in the middle of reading Discourses by Epictetus. A stoic philosophers collections of lectures written by his student Arian.

Quote Of The Week - “Action will remove the doubt that theory cannot solve.” — Tehyi Hsieh