On The Shortness of Life by Seneca.[1]

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl is also excellent.[2]

[1] - https://tripinsurancestore.com/4/on-the-shortness-of-life.pd...

[2] - https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/...

Viktor Frankl[1] was a psychologist who wrote the remarkable book Man's Search for Meaning[2], where he recounted his experience as a prisoner in Auschwitz and noticed that those who survived in such circumstances had a strong sense of meaning.

He explored the question of meaning more fully in his later work, and came to believe that the meaning of your life was a question that life asked of you, and that you answered this question by the choices that you made.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Frankl

[2] - https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl-ebo...

If you want to read more thoughts on how having meaning relates to a fulfilling life, check our Viktor Frankl's classic, Man's Search for Meaning [1]. He was in concentration camps and developed a whole theory about the exact topic touched on in the nytimes article.

It's short and very inspiring.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl-ebo...

Anyone interested in this would do well to read Victor Frankl's "Man's Search For Meaning" about his imprisonment in Auschwitz.[1] He found that a sense of meaning was critical to survival there, and went on to develop a new school of psychotherapy he called "logotherapy", which focused on finding meaning in life.[2]

[1] - https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/...

[2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logotherapy

I am a proponent for depth over breadth. To read is one thing but to understand is another. Rather than read 5 books and superficially grasp their concepts, read one closely and carefully.

The one book I wish my colleagues would read and learn from is "Man's Search for Meaning" by Victor Frankl [1].

"Between stimulus and response lies a space. In that space lie our freedom and power to choose a response. In our response lies our growth and our happiness."

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/...

When Breathe Becomes Air (https://www.amazon.com/When-Breath-Becomes-Paul-Kalanithi/dp...) and Man's Search for Meaning (https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/...)

I just read the book Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankel. I think it does a fantastic job of answering the questions about the meaning of life.

Viktor came up with the theory of Logotherapy which in a nutshell has 3 parts:

- Life has meaning under all circumstances, even the most miserable ones.

- Our main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in life.

- We have freedom to find meaning in what we do, and what we experience, or at least in the stand we take when faced with a situation of unchangeable suffering

https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/...

Read Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. It's about a psychiatrist's experience in Auschwitz, and helps with identifying purpose and finding meaning in life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning

https://archive.org/details/MansSearchForMeaning_201507

http://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/0...

Try to be 1% better and whatever you're focusing on improving. It's manageable. It's realistic. It adds up.

Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl

http://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/0...

Speaking of which,

Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning: http://amzn.to/1UwCEy6 and

Cal Newport's So Good They Can't Ignore You: http://amzn.to/1fkHSNF (blog: http://calnewport.com/blog/about/)

have really helped me navigate these issues.

When this topic comes up, I always recommend Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl: http://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/0...

Anyone interested in learning about human perseverance would do well to spend a couple hours reading Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning.

It's short. It's accessible. There is also a noticeable absence of Richard Gere.

“In psychiatry there is a certain condition known as delusion of reprieve. The condemned man, immediately before his execution, gets the illusion that he might be reprieved at the very last minute. No one could yet grasp the fact that everything would be taken away. all we possessed, literally, was our naked existence.”

The trick is that our naked existence is all we ever have. Learning to deal with this fact, to accept and and even rely on this fundamental truth, is the first step towards developing a real purpose in life. This is the kind of thing that will get you out of bed each day.

http://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/0...