“The best long-term fuel source is some repeated act that energizes you in a way that then lets you become a generative person, who uses the energy to make things for others,” wrote investor Patrick O’Shaughnessy. Instead of focusing on what you leave behind, generativity is about what you give now—actively contributing to your community, creating

being more generous, expanding our “gift circles,” and finding ways to give directly to people without any attachment to how they react to the money or spend it, we might make our lives more meaningful and interesting.