The context of your hard work (for e.g. top 1% vs sub-Saharan Africa) may actually be much less important than my grandiose proclamations betray. I mean aren't we all going to die after spending a nanosecond on the grand cosmic scale. Then, who is to judge that building space travel ventures is grander than conjuring up 10 funniest cats with santa hats lists? You might as well do whatever makes you decent money without worrying about the bigger questions of life.

Don’t rush into choosing any of these definition over the other. There is yet another form of Greatness no. 3: Overcoming your own personal limitations and achieving something larger than your own self.

The worthy of this glory are the single moms who work two jobs to earn bread for their family.

Or the young kid who studies hard to become a decent human being fighting against poverty and deep rooted social inertia.

Or maybe, it is one of you.

For example, one Mr. G3 has financial troubles at home. The bread-earner of the family encounters a tragic accident which renders him incapable of doing any meaningful work. Mr. G3 thus takes it upon himself to support the family. He works at a regular job to send some money home. He has killed his dream of building a company or becoming a painter because he knows that the journey to it is fraught with risks and uncertainty given the condition at home.

Where do all these acts of courage fit in? Are you willing to call this a life well lived?

Let's bring in the other bad boy in the fight. Presenting you, drum rolls please - Happiness.

#WHAT'S THIS MUMBO-JUMBO ABOUT HAPPINESS AND CONTENTMENT?

When we talk about contentment and happiness, we imagine bald heads and orange robes assembled in an ashram to practice meditation. Like this ex-Top Gear anchor who became a Buddhist nun. We think of these lives as stripped away from reality and irrelevant to our society. Though, we acknowledge that they do seem serene.

On the other extreme, we look at dope-heads and addicts and feel that they are living shitty lives and wasting it all away. They live what in our minds are unhappy lives.

But, life is absurd. All your pleasures, pains, fights, lovers are going to die with you in some years. Nobody knows for sure what happens after we die - whether all our good deeds have any effect on our after-life, if any such thing exists. Thus, a lot of our consented social norms and values break down. If there are no repercussions of your present birth's actions on your after life, then you can do whatever you want to. Love, compassion, not hurting others, theft, murders all become just choices without anyone to tell which one's right and which one's not.

So, are the extra 2 hours you spend in office every day to rise the corporate ladder faster really worth it? Is sacrificing the weekend worth the higher salary (and the extra stress that comes along with it)? What is the need of all of this extra misplaced labor?

I believe that more than happiness/greatness, we need to feel Relevant- through fame, fortune or respect. The act of me writing these lines itself is a clarion call to have my thoughts acknowledged. This need of acknowledgement is a common phenomenon often veiled in one or the other form. Violence in the name of religion, spreading gossips, sharing our life’s stories on Facebook are all ways to seek relevance. These are methods (sometimes of madness) to validate our existence in this world. These acts comfort us by showing that our actions have effect in someone else’s life.

How does it fit in the context of greatness?

Great things call for sacrifice, pain, labor and many things which we otherwise would not endure in our daily lives - People giving up on parties to stay home at weekends to focus on their work - preparing for entrance examinations, writing a book, building a startup.

Or extreme sports people- the fliers (video below) or the no-rope mountain climbers. What drives them to take such risks?