Jerry Penner
Guest Writer

What is this greatness we cause?

I’ve been a lot of things: broke, alcoholic, engineer, curious, retired; an avid reader, a son, husband, boyfriend, asshole, idiot, and learner about the sciences.

At forty I realized I had no retirement plan and I’d had it with financial advice from salesfolks and broke people.

I researched every get-rich-quick scheme and investment strategy I could find. I built a twenty-year plan and executed it in sixteen. I focused my retirement efforts on the exit from the rat race with no thought as to what was on the other side. When I did open the exit door, I noticed it wasn’t an exit at all. It was an entrance to a world of endless possibilities where I could make the world a better place, my way.

Ok, but what way is that? I had no idea.

I had to spend some hard-think time considering the kind of person I was and what I wanted to be more than anything. Did I want to day-drink and yell at the TV? Nah, I traded that in for a better life years ago.
Did I want to hold down a beach towel in exotic places? Nah, I’m not the kind of person who sits still for very long. Did I want to spend my days biking? Camping? Sounds nice now and then but that’s not all that I am.
Or did I want to make metal art and sell it below cost, just to keep busy and make people happy? I could, but that wasn’t exactly it either.

Then I remembered an Isaac Asimov story about a robot created to perform menial work in a factory. As the factory changed, and the robot aged, it was sold to a family and became a caretaker, a nanny. As the robot’s abilities decreased, the owners considered scrapping it but the robot made the case that it was willing to take on different tasks, ones it was still able to accomplish even in its imperfect state. The robot simply said “I want to be useful.” That’s it. I want to be useful. To be helpful.

It’s been said that a man goes through three stages in life: Child, Warrior, and Statesman. As a Child he is helpless, clueless, and needs his parents to give him food, shelter, education and direction.

As a Warrior, he changes the world with his body.
As a Statesman, he changes the world with his mind.

I’m in the Statesman portion of my life. I’ve studied science, engineering, psychology, theology, finance, mechanics, biology, and a whole basketful of other topics as they catch my interest. I’m in a place now where I can see what works and what doesn’t; how things can be applied in various situations by mixing disciplines in different ways.

I’m in a place where I can be useful to others by helping them out of their mind-traps. It used to be “I know shit.” Now, it’s “I know shit,” and one of the most important things I know is that I don’t know everything. I can’t help everyone well. Knowing my limitations puts a big dose of humility on top of the ego, melting it like rain melts spun sugar.

I also know I can only help those who ask. Otherwise, I’m a know-it-all, a buttinski. Even if I can see trouble coming a mile away, I’ll watch and wait. Some folks need to learn the lesson themselves and aren’t ready for input. My ‘help’ wouldn’t be help it would be interference.

How do I Cause Greatness? The large, vague answer is by offering what I know to those who ask.

How specifically do I do that? One way is by doing rune readings at psychic fairs. The questions invariably fall to money, love, job, health, or family. I know enough about psychology, finance, statistics, human behavior, and self-improvement that I can intelligently help someone identify the gopher holes they’ve been stepping in so they can avoid them next time.

It’s rare that I see the same person again, so I don’t get the update on how their life changed based on their time with me. But I do get to see the aha! moment, that light in their eyes as they recognize the deep, deep trigger that is keeping them from breaking out of their self-built cage. More than once I have helped someone identify why they keep smashing perfectly good relationships. Helped them locate the irrational psychology that’s driving them. One fifteen-minute session with me can substitute for weeks of expensive psychoanalysis.

Another is by offering both free and paid courses on retiring richer and faster; empowering others to get their financial path in order. I’m not a certified financial anything but I’ve got something most financial planners don’t have: real-world experience. Watching people go from visible despair to confidence and ease after they work with me is gratifying.

One reason I joined MDI was to be helpful to men who know something needs to change in their lives but don’t know what or how. MDI men are a special breed. They know change is necessary for personal growth, and are willing to undertake what’s required to achieve that growth. Not everyone has this. Many folks would rather blame anyone or anything else for their problems: a victim mentality. I understand why: it’s easier than looking inward and doing the work.

My legacy will never be written on a headstone. It will be in the lives I have touched and helped make better. Those to whom I have been useful.

Where will your legacy be?