As I’m reading Shoe Dog by Phi Knight, he says something interesting at the beginning, when he’s trying to figure out what his life is all about:

________________________________________

As I began to clip off one brisk six-minute mile after another, as the rising sun set fire to the lowest needles of the pines, I asked myself: What if there were a way, without being an athlete, to feel what athletes feel? To play all the time, instead of working? Or else to enjoy work so much that it becomes essentially the same thing.

The world was so overrun with war and pain and misery, the daily grind was so exhausting and often unjust, maybe the only answer, I thought, was to find some prodigious, improbable dream that seemed worthy, that seemed fun, that seemed a good fit, and chase it with an athlete’s single-minded dedication and purpose. Like it or not, life is a game. Whoever denies that truth, whoever simply refuses to play, gets left on the sideline, and I didn’t want that. More than anything, that was the thing I did not want.

_________________________________________

After reading these two paragraphs, I thought about two sentences:

[1] What if there were a way, without being an athlete, to feel what athletes feel? To play all the time, instead of working? Or else to enjoy work so much that it becomes essentially the same thing. and

[2] Like it or not, life is a game. Whoever denies that truth, whoever simply refuses to play, gets left on the sideline, and I didn’t want that.

I believe you’ve discovered your calling once you begin to see what you do as a game to be played, rather than a job to be done.

My sincere thanks to Phil for putting my thoughts into words in a way that inspires me to work towards my goals.