It's Not About You: A Brief Guide to a Meaningful Life

by Tom Rath

Your life has an unknown expiration date. Your efforts and contributions to others do not. The time, energy, and resources you invest in people you care for and your community keep growing forever.

We are, to a large degree, the product of what others have contributed to our lives.

In particular, when children twelve and older battle cancer and survive, they are more likely to experience what scientists call post-traumatic growth.

When you view your time as finite, you build more life into each day. Look through the lens of what will outlive you, and you’ll quickly see past self.

You may not get to control how another person initiates your next interaction, but you always get to choose your response.

When you see a rare opportunity, take it. Life is too brief for living with regrets.

You have to find work that you know in your heart is making a positive contribution. You can’t be anything you want to be, but you can be a whole lot more of who you already are.

The work you do should improve your well-being so you can do more for others.

we must find ways to celebrate people’s lives and contributions while they are still alive.

In the end, you are what you contributed to the world.