The quotable Mark Twain is reputed to have said that the two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. To me, nothing is more important than finding the “why” of your life, your purpose for being, the motivation that gets you out of bed in the morning and propels you through each day. Your “why” is your passion, your very cause for being. I found my “why” as a boy struggling with a disability, reeling from the loss of much loved relatives, and battling the oppression of low expectations for me and my life. By focusing my career and philanthropic efforts on making a difference in health care, sparing others the pain I experienced when my sister-in-law died and when I lost my hearing in my left ear for the second time, and by trying to make the world a better place, my life has been infused with energy and purpose.
Confucius said choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. There are many fortunate people who find the perfect combination of career and talent and will honestly say that they would do their jobs even if they were not compensated because they so love what they do. This is an alien concept for too many people who view their jobs as a source of drudgery or duty. In an ideal world, everyone would work at a job that brings happiness and fulfillment. We spend most of our lives working. The American Time Use Survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the typical American spends more time working on an average day, 8.9 hours, then anything else, even sleeping, 7.7 hours. So if we are going to spend most of our time working, why not do something that makes you happy and if you are unable to find the job that makes your heart sing, why not just make the best of it?
