Identify your definite major purpose.  Successful people identify a life purpose greater and bigger than themselves.  In his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl describes his observations as a prisoner of his peers while living in a concentration camp during World War II.  Dr. Frankl observed that the men who did not have a purpose, who did not identify a greater meaning in their lives, were much more likely to die sooner.  Those who had identified a greater purpose (to return to loved ones back at home, to live to raise grandchildren, or to feed the poor) had a reason to live – even under the harshest of conditions – and ultimately were much more likely to survive.

Successful people are persistent and resilient even when live throws unexpected, difficult events at them.  They tend to treat “problems” as challenges which ultimately shape us and make us better and stronger.  As Dr. Frankl wrote, “he learned that, no matter what, he retained the freedom to choose how to respond to suffering.” We all choose how we respond to problems.  We can choose to be a victim and ask “why me?” or we can choose to keep our sleeves rolled up and continue to move forward despite temporary setbacks.  The latter is accomplished by identifying one’s definite major purpose.  “The quest for meaning is the key to mental health and human flourishing.”  Those who have identified their “why” can withstand any “how.”  What is your definite major purpose?  What is your “why”?