Contribute or perish—this is one of the fundamental and guiding principles of the universe. We observe it in a thousand ways in nature, and we witness it in the lives of people. The question we must all ask ourselves is this: What will my contribution be?

The surest way to find yourself is to stay just where you are. You don't need to take some exotic trip to a distant land—you are exactly where you are right now for a reason.

The happiest people I know are people who have a sense of mission. They have a joy that nobody can take away from them. The joy of their lives is linked not to the worldly scope or scale of the mission, but to the belief that they are uniquely suited to that role and the conviction that they have been called to it. They have a sense that they are in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. Are you at peace with who you are, where you are, and what you are doing?

One of the most powerful ways for us to simplify our lives is in the area of money and things. What is your relationship with money?

Is there a question that you need to answer? Is there a choice that you need to make? Is there an opportunity that you need to pursue or that you need to turn your back on? Is there a relationship that you need to throw yourself into or walk away from? What is clouding your judgment? Why all the confusion?

Clutter, congestion, and confusion have become an accepted part of most people’s everyday experience of life, but it doesn’t need to be that way.

Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness at the outset of his ministry. He was tempted by the devil and exemplified self-control. He personally demonstrated the path to self-mastery and liberation. How can fasting help you?

Most of us tell ourselves that we don’t have any of the big, serious addictions. For us it might be “just” cigarettes, chocolate, diet soda, or coffee. But as the great Spanish mystic and monk, St. John of the Cross wrote, “A bird, whether it is tied down by a thread or a chain, still cannot fly.” What’s tying you down?

We are not free. Most people can’t go a day without a cup of coffee, yet we think we are free. We need to wake up. We don’t need someone to come across the ocean and enslave us. We have enslaved ourselves.

From time to time, people will ask, “Do you have a temper?” The truth is that we all have a temper. The real questions are: Are you able to control your temper? Are you in control of your temper, or is your temper in control of you?

We need to move beyond the notion that discipline is someone else telling us what to do. We need to celebrate the self-discipline that liberates us.

It is one thing not to believe something; it is something completely different and debilitating to believe and not live in that belief. Do you live what you believe?

We are constantly overwhelmed by voices—the voices of parents, friends, teachers, mentors, coaches, siblings, employers, experts, celebrities, politicians, preachers, advisors, consultants. Who are you listening to?

The inner conflict and dividedness that plague so many people are the results of living our lives contrary to the good things we believe. Are you living a double life? A triple life? A quadruple life? Are you living one life at school, another at work, one at home, one at church, and another with your friends? Are you one person when you are with some people and another person when you are with others? How many lives are you living?

It’s time to find something you can do and do passionately. Don’t delay. Do something today to move in the direction of an occupation or position that you are more passionate about. It may take five years before you are in a role that engages you in the way you yearn to be engaged, but if you don’t start today, it will take five years and one day.

If you could do anything, what would you do? God has bold dreams for you; bigger dreams than you can comprehend at the moment.

If you work forty hours a week after graduating college, and retired at the age of sixty-five, you will have worked at least 86,400 hours by the time you retire. That’s a lot of our lives. So how do we find meaning in our work?

Most people don’t like their work, and they don’t like to work. So why do we work? What is the meaning of work? What value is work designed to bring to our lives? Read pages 79–87 (paperback version) or pages 83–91 (hardcover version).

Just because you do something in the privacy of your home, behind closed doors, with no one else involved, or with no one else to witness the act, does not mean that act does not affect other people. Every human act affects the future of humanity. Your actions, however private, have consequences for you and all of humanity. Read pages 72–77 (paperback version) or pages 76–81 (hardcover version).

We live in a fix-it society. Not only that, but we also live in a quick-fix society. We overlook character and virtue because they are not quick fixes. Both require time and effort. How does virtue become possible?