The Search

We humans are deeper than who we think we are and what we do for a living according to “happiness professor” Arthur Brooks. For example, I may be an entertainer and a professor and what I do (teach and inform or entertain) may be more specific. But according to Brooks it’s the why that really defines us. Why do I teach? Why have I spent a lifetime informing and entertaining — to help people and to make them happy.

The values that motivate your work long after the excitement of a promotion, paycheck, or title has faded. Lasting happiness is built on enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning, with meaning coming from a sense of purpose that transcends simple achievement.

Instead of asking, “What do I do?” ask, “Why do I do it?”. Your title may change several times over a lifetime. Your deeper purpose rarely does. And in the end, it is that purpose — not your business card — that tells the truest story of who you are. As many entertainers know when they are laid off from their jobs, they feel and sense of uselessness instead of a state of being between jobs — it’s why we do what we do that defines us and brings happiness.

“Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how.’” — Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning (quoting Nietzsche).