# your responsibilities dont keep you from your purpose, they are part of your purpose # you make good decisions by avoiding the misperceptions, fears, and fallacies that lead people to make bad decisions and if you keep these misperceptions from clouding your perspective, your path to insight will be clear # if you can develop into a person of good character, you chances of succeeding in life improve dramatically *cute* you can have more than one purpose in life, and you can do them together or do them sequentially, it doesnt matter, so long as you are pursuing them and not some other unimportant thing .hot. You can't X-Ray the Chocolates. People approach this choice as if it were a box of assorted chocolates. They all look good on the outside, but on the inside-hidden -are some awful tastes. Knowing they only get one chocolate, people hesitate and hover, unable to choose. And they imagine,"If I could only X-Ray the chocolates, I could make this decision easily."Well, that's a fantasy. Every day people manage to make this decision without X-raying the chocolates. How? 2 Factors.1. They get a nibble of a taste, or a little experience.2. They are in tune with themselves and so can accurately anticipate what will or will not taste good when they take a whole bite # The world is full of incredible, rich opportunities. If you strengthen your curiosity as you would a muscle, by exercising it regularly-if you can empathize with the lives of others, if you are willing to see a potential friend in the face of every stranger, if you are willing to suffer some embarrassment and discomfort, and if you are patient-you will not be stuck forever # some of the most amazing ones didnt bring clarity at all # Stop asking what makes you happy instead of what can you devote your life .hmm. Some people found fulfilment when they stopped chasing fruitless notions and embraced a workable solution # Only by being honest to our past can we gain insight from our own experiences # it's not what you do that defines you nearly as much as what you overcame to get there that shapes you # Most of the stories have positive outcomes, but all of the stories began in failure -in the crashing to earth of their best-laid plans, stranded here, forced to improvise, stop pretending # its not what you do, its what you are working towards. Work satisfaction rarely comes from a perfect fit of the skills you have to the skills your job requires. All jobs have unpleasant elements-dont look for a job without unpleasant elements, but rather, look for a job that is worth doing such that the unpleasant elements are worth putting up with. Gain satisfaction from being able to do your work in a moral fashion # Don't ask"Could I be happy doing that?" You could be happy doing any number of things. You are looking not for happiness, but fulfilment. Ask "Would I find that fulfilling?" .gal. Don't start with"What am I good at?" People mature and change over the course of their lives. Traditional career analysis begins with the question"what am I good at?," but that's a moving target as you age. You can get good at whatever you need to serve what you believe in. You can learn Spanish. You can learn budgets. You can learn to listen # does it make sense to wait for that overpowering clarity?