In The Road to Character, David Brooks asks two important questions:

What does life want from me?

What are my circumstances calling me to do?

You’ll notice a slight difference between this inquiry and everything else you read, watch, and listen to from the personal development industry.

Today, the self-help “movement” believes that our lives should be focused on a similar-sounding (but completely different) question:

What do I want out of life?

This subtle shift in wording changes our perspective in a profound way.

Asking what we want from life infers that the world owes us something – that our circumstances aren’t delivering the life we deserve.

This approach assumes there’s a big hole in our life that needs filling.

The next thing you know, you’re buying a third vacation home, remodeling a walk-in closet (to fit 63 pairs of running shoes) and signing up for a 7-day meditation retreat in Maui.

The truth is, life isn’t fair and it owes us nothing.

Embracing this truth leads us to responses that deliver the ultimate fulfillment.

-CJ

P.S. Check out The Road to Character by David Brooks. It’s worth your time.