Transcripts

Kent Keith:
The search for success and the search for meaning are not the same search. There are just a lot of things that our society says are important, like power, wealth and fame. And it's not necessarily bad but it's not especially meaningful.

Kent Keith, author of the book Do It Anyway…

And so you need to stay focused on what is meaningful. And the meaning is going to be in things like loving people, and helping people and living your own values.

In his book, Kent has written what he calls the paradoxical commandments, which can help anyone stay on track to find meaning in their life.

The first paradoxical commandment is: People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered - love them anyway. And the second one is: If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives - do good anyway. So the idea is that no matter what the world does to you, you still get to decide how to respond. You get to decide what you're going to do.

In the movie Man of LaMancha that came out many years ago is a line that has stuck with Kent for all these years. One of the characters says…

"I have seen people dying with a question on their lips and the question is not ' why am I dying?' The question is, 'Why have I lived'?' That's a pretty awful question to be asking yourself as you breathe your last breath. And what I believe and what I've learned from everyone I've surveyed over the last thirty years is that if you focus on doing what's meaningful, when you look back at the end of your life you will know why you've lived.

At somethingyoushouldknow.net I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.