I recently saw this instagram post by Brazillian Jiu-jitsu champion Mikey Musumeci (@mikeymusumeci) that I wanted to share:

It is a little crude, but touches on an important point: that nouns or titles don’t matter nearly as much as what we have done with our lives. It doesn’t matter that you are an author if you haven’t written an honest piece of work; it doesn’t matter that you have a medicine degree if you don’t heal the sick; it doesn’t matter that you won a prestigious award if you carried yourself in a manner that fails to inspire.

Lionel Messi won’t be remembered as that Argentinian that won nearly every football award possible, but for the magic he could create with the ball; for his beautiful assists, for his way of weaving around world-class defenders with ease, for his ability to carry mediocre teams to world-class performances, all while in good conduct, on and off the pitch. If he hadn’t done these things, his awards would be meaningless.

At the end of our lives, it is not our titles that will matter, but what we have done, and how we have touched others, that will be celebrated.