“We’ve built cathedrals in their honour. But they were building campfires.”
The modern business world demands that we work backward from an outcome. It tells us to pick a revenue goal, exploit market friction, and treat people as targets to reach the finish line. We are taught to treat our work as an “identity multiplier,” as if who we already are needs to earn its moment in the sun by accumulating enough wealth or scale.
This is the trap of the Saviour. And it is a profound illusion. You cannot solve an existential longing with a metric.
This episode dismantles the exhausting pursuit of playing the hero. When we measure our inherent worth by the magnitude of our impact, we lose the joy of the work itself. Whether you are navigating a career transition, staring at a bookshelf full of unfinished playbooks and panicky purchases, or simply trying to take the next unremarkable step, the invitation is simple: stop trying to change the world.
Start serving the person right in front of you. Because historically, it’s the servants who get shit done.
00:00 - Welcome to the Unremarkable Entrepreneur
01:13 - Bridging the Gap & The Practice of Presence
03:20 - The Identity Multiplier (The Illusion of Outcomes)
05:30 - You Cannot Solve an Existential Longing With a Metric
08:18 - Cathedrals, Campfires, and the Servants of History
10:36 - Robert Raikes & The Birth of Sunday School
What we cover in this episode:
The Illusion of Outcomes: Why working backward from a financial goal often forces us to treat people as targets and strips the truth from our work.
The Identity Multiplier: How we use our businesses and content to prove our worth, and why an existential longing can never be solved with a metric.
Slipping the Founder’s Noose: A personal story of redundancy, the frantic scramble for relevance in the “guru economy,” and finding freedom by leaning into fear.
Campfires vs. Cathedrals: Why history’s most impactful figures (from the Wright Brothers to MLK Jr.) weren’t trying to be saviours; they were simply servants taking the next right step in the rubble.
Notable Quotes:
“You cannot solve an existential longing with a metric. No amount of data can deliver the piece you long for, because who you are cannot be measured, contained, or controlled.”
“We’ve built cathedrals in their honour. But they were building campfires.”
“It might seem crazy to suggest that your name can exist alongside the heroes of history, but only because we’ve learnt to judge the worth of the person by the magnitude of their impact.”
Questions for the Campfire: Take a moment today and ask yourself these three things:
Where is the friction? (Not in the market, but in you)
Who can you ask? (Who can hold up the mirror?)
What are you actually serving? (Name it, be specific)
Read the full written version of this chapter and join the campfire over on Substack: unremarkable.co
#SelfWorth #AuthenticLeadership #ServeTheWork #CreatorEconomy #TheUnremarkableEntrepreneur
Where We Are:
This is Week 9 of a year-long practice.
Movement 1: Presence - eight weeks, eight stanzas, exploring how to show up as yourself.
Saviour / Servant ← You are here
Start with WHO
The Increment is the Way
Invite Like an Artist
The World is Abundant
From there we’ll explore Movement 2: Empathy - eight weeks exploring kindness and respect for self and the power genuine connection.
