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Doing It All Alone

Doing It All Alone

Stuart McMillen - Doing It All Alone cover. Parody of Brian Eno's "Before and After Science" album cover.
Many successful people view other members of society as irrelevant to their own personal fortune. When recounting their own “story of success”, they speak of their own talents. They speak of their own character. They speak of their own actions. They’ll tell you all about their achievements, with each story pivoting on their own role in creating their personal success. But by sharply focusing on themselves, they leave many important things out of the frame. What begins as innocent self-regard for one’s achievements can turn into a full-scale revisionist history.
Each successive re-telling of their 'story' emphasises their own role in the success, and de-emphasises the roles of other factors. The role of the public domain disappears from sight. The crucial help of other people disappears from sight. The narrative becomes “I did it all on my own”. And with that, shrinks their willingness to support the society that birthed their success.
The people who “did it all themselves” so often fail to see the deep and diverse array of factors that were needed. The diverse range of people who were needed to give them the opportunity to do their final masterstrokes. No one truly “does it alone”. "Doing It All Alone" is an excerpt of the comic "Who Owns the Million Dollar Baseball" by Stuart McMillen.
I am an Australian cartoonist, specialising in long-form, non-fiction comics about environmental and social issues. My comics have been read by hundreds of thousands of people and I have been flooded with feedback from readers who say that I have changed their attitudes towards these social issues. Please help me to continue this valuable creative work by becoming my crowdfunding supporter. Stuart McMillen, Canberra, Australia. crowdfundstu.com
Comic about the so-called ‘self-made men’. Many successful people view other members of society as irrelevant to their own personal fortune. Those who “did it all themselves” overlook many important ingredients to their success.

Further reading

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Comments

Martin

27 February 2020

Hi Stuart Been following your comics long ago... I kind of disagree with this one: what I understand with "doing it by myself" or "self-made" kind of person, is that, yes: there was help from X or Y... but the person would've achieved success anyway if there were no X or Y, instead having found his/her way to Z. Y'know what I mean? There's a difference between "counting on"/"relying on" somebody vs "depending on". It could be the friends, family, some company, the state, the society. Those who are willing to do it by themselves are the most likely to found the help of others, and get far. But those who believe they NEED others, have the less chance to get that far. They may feel powerless when it seems nobody's there to help. It's a mindset issue. It's true that nobody does nothing extrictly "all alone" as the entire universe is interconnected. But I see some special merit in those that will pursue their objectives regardless of external help, situations, or lack of them. Best!

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