Brian S. Lowery

Here's where the drive for personal achievement is strongest, it's clearest.

When I was worried about tenure, I knew exactly what I needed to do when I got up in the morning.

When you have a goal, when you're trying to achieve something, you have a clarity about what you should do, how to direct your behavior.

So that's the second big idea, is purpose.

Now, the third big idea, that many consider to be the most important, is significance.

And the way I like to think about significance is the sense that you can transcend yourself, that you are more than what you are right now, that you will continue to matter into the future beyond this moment.

this is where I think personal achievement falls short.

By definition, personal achievement focuses on you, to focus on the self.

And if that's all there is, it's difficult to have significance.

So when I want to think about meaningfulness in life, and significance in particular, it brings to mind a quote attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.

Some of you might know it.

So Leonardo da Vinci was purported to have said on his deathbed,

I have offended God and mankind because my work did not achieve the quality it should have.

Now, I wasn't there, so I don't know if he said that exactly in that way, but here's the thing.

You can imagine it.

You understand it.

You understand what it means to have even the most glorious achievements and still ask, is this enough?

Is this it?

Is this all I add up to?

When I look back and think about my time early on in my career, I think about when did it feel meaningful?