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.

Powerful

Life is about what you put back into the world, not what you take out of it.

You can’t be anything you want to be, but you can be a whole lot more of who you already are.

All the talent, motivation, and hard work in the world will not be valued or remembered if it does not help another human being.

the defining features of a meaningful life are “connecting and contributing to something beyond the self.”

we must find ways to celebrate people’s lives and contributions while they are still alive. We need far more celebrations of life . . . even before people know they are dying.

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