“Monday 5 Things” ….. Shrugged …..
October 13, 2025 by D. Paul Graham
Ever curious and always amused by the quirks of life, join D. Paul Graham each Monday for more M5T pondering.
“Heart of the Prime Movers” photo by D. Paul Graham
I shall be forever in debt to my high school English teacher, Mr. Hyatt. He introduced me to a book that quietly changed and shaped how I saw the world. I didn’t so much read Atlas Shrugged in high school as it read me. I didn’t understand all the philosophy immediately, but I understood the feeling as I read it for the first time. I resonated with the raw energy in each of Rand’s Prime Movers. They believed in what they were building, how they were living, and where they placed value. For a high school kid trying to make sense of his own place in the world, it was the literary equivalent of a lightning strike. Some books leave an impression, while others build a platform for life. Atlas Shrugged didn’t give me answers. It gave me a framework. It made me question complacency, pursue precision, and think deeply about what I wanted to build with my life. I understood Rand’s challenge to never stop asking what I stand for, to keep moving forward when others stop, and to make my purpose as non-negotiable. Atlas Shrugged was released 68 years ago, and this morning’s M5T steps into the Gulch and considers “Who is John Galt?”
1. PURPOSE WITHOUT PERMISSION. Dagny Taggart was a revelation. She didn’t wait for approval, or validation, or applause. She didn’t ask if she could. She simply decided she would and then she moved forward. Her rails weren’t just made of steel. They were built on conviction. That idea lodged itself deep in my mind. Purpose doesn’t arrive through consensus. It’s forged in solitude and conviction. At that age, it was a radical thought that I didn’t have to wait for someone to say “yes.” The permission I needed was internal. Years later, the things I’ve created, every idea I chased, all started the same way. Quietly, without permission, but with absolute intent. Solitary work born in silence, clarified through friction, and sustained by will and faith.
2. EXCELLENCE ISN’T ARROGANCE. I remember being struck by how Rand’s heroes never apologized for caring about quality, nor did they ever dim their brilliance to make others comfortable. Hank Rearden poured his life into molten metal and innovation. His mastery wasn’t hubris. It was reverence. They didn’t downplay their skills or feign indifference to proficiency. In a world that now rewards the average and celebrates the mediocre, Rand’s characters’ devotion to precision and excellence feels almost defiant. Too often, excellence is mistaken for ego, being too intense, too serious, or too much for others to understand. Atlas Shrugged turned that upside down for me. It taught me that doing something exceptionally well isn’t arrogance. It’s gratitude for the gift, the opportunity, and the time it takes to do something right. To this day, I consider excellence far more than a statement. It’s a standard to live by.
3. THE STRENGTH OF STANDING ALONE. There’s a solitude in being the one who sees differently. Francisco d’Anconia laughed in the face of conformity. Ellis Wyatt torched his wells rather than have them taken from him. Ragnar Danneskjöld lived a life of righteous exile. Hugh Atkins refused to accept unearned rewards. John Galt walked away from the noise. In high school, there was an internal tug-of-war between fitting in and following your gut to be your own person. Atlas Shrugged shaped the context that solitude isn’t isolation. It’s a natural companion to clarity. Standing alone doesn’t mean being separate from others. It means being anchored in what you believe, even when the world is seemingly drifting into chaos. That lesson continues to help, whenever paths got foggy, when opinions collided, and when vision isn’t popular. It taught me that solitude isn’t a void. It’s a forge where conviction is shaped from heat.
4. THE MACHINERY OF THE MIND. RAND had a way of making thought feel romantic. She described intellect not as cold or mechanical, but as elegant and inspired, the architecture behind every innovation, and the foundation of every creation. That rewired how I approach creativity. I stopped thinking of art and logic as opposites. I started to see them as partners that work together. That realization shaped everything that came later in my life in business, photography, writing, and my relationships. Creating requires both intuition and discipline, motion and structure, and passion and control. Every deal I’ve structured, every image I’ve captured begins like the hum of Galt’s motor, with meaning derived from the elegant rhythm of disciplined thought and imagination.
5. THE WORLD RUNS ON THE ENERGY OF THOSE WHO THINK. From the first time I read the book, that line hit me with veracity. The world doesn’t move because of luck or coincidence. We flourish because of the people who show up, those that build, and those that reject mediocrity. As I grew older, I started meeting those people. The ones who build quietly, who move with focus, who don’t waste energy convincing others. The ones who would rather do than declare. The idea that the world runs on the energy of thinkers became both a compass and a mirror. It’s how I measure effort, character, and motion. That may be why Atlas Shrugged still matters. It’s less about Rand’s politics, and more about her insistence that the momentum of the force of will always separate dreaming from doing. That not only drove me forward but became a calling for me, fueling my work for decades. Some books inspire for a season. Atlas Shrugged frames an internal structure to live on, to propel you forward.
Here's to a week of recognizing that the question isn’t Who is John Galt? It’s Who are you when no one’s watching.
© 2025 D. Paul Graham, All Rights Reserved
Paul continues to re-read Atlas Shrugged every 2 years.
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