What We Leave Behind

This photo was taken when the Chinese edition of my book, AC Motor Control Loop Design, was published.

The stacks of books on the table were not inventory for bookstores. They were signed copies prepared for students who enrolled in my online courses. At that time, I organized a special event: the first fifty students who purchased the course would receive a personally signed copy of the book.

When I was younger, like many engineers, I wanted to prove myself. I wanted to become stronger, learn more, and push my technical abilities to the limit.

As the years went by, however, I began to realize that the most important question is not how strong you become, but what you leave behind.

Patents eventually expire. Products are eventually discontinued. Companies change, merge, and disappear. Even the most advanced technologies will one day become obsolete.

Knowledge is different.

When you organize your experience into a book, a course, or a framework that helps others avoid unnecessary detours, that value often outlives any product you could ever build.

Today, the greatest sense of accomplishment I have does not come from the projects I completed or the technologies I developed.

It comes from hearing someone say:

“Your book helped me avoid five, maybe even ten years of unnecessary trial and error.”

At that moment, I know the effort was worthwhile.

I believe true achievement is not proving how strong you are.

It is turning your experience into a ladder for others to climb.

— Jack Yeh

我們留下的，不只是成就

這張照片，是我的代表作
《交流電機控制迴路設計》
中文版出版時所留下的紀念。

桌上堆滿的書，並不是準備送到書店的庫存，而是我要寄給購買線上課程學員的簽名書。那時候我舉辦了一個活動，前五十位購買課程的學員，都可以收到一本我親筆簽名的著作。

年輕的時候，我和許多工程師一樣，總想證明自己，總想變得更強，總想在技術上做到最好。

但隨著年紀增長，我慢慢發現，真正重要的事情，或許並不是自己變得有多強，而是留下了多少東西。

對企業而言，專利終究會過期，產品終究會停產，公司也可能改朝換代。即使是最先進的技術，也有被淘汰的一天。

然而，知識的傳承卻不一樣。

當你把經驗整理成一本書、一門課程、一套方法，並幫助別人少走彎路時，這些價值往往能夠延續得比任何產品都更久。

直到今天，我最有成就感的事情，並不是完成了多少專案，也不是開發了多少技術。

而是當有人告訴我：

「因為你的書，我少走了五年、甚至十年的冤枉路。」

那一刻我知道，這些年的努力並沒有白費。

我覺得真正的成就，不是證明自己有多強。

而是讓自己的經驗，成為別人成長的階梯。