The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

The new year, of course, has me reflecting on what I want to do with my life.  That reflection made me remember this poem we read in business school asking what we plan to do with our lives (HBS runs the Portrait Project each year where you can read more formal reflections than mine).

This year, I want to contribute to a meaningful project, initiative, or product. Below are some areas I am currently interested in. I will review these at the end of 2019 and see if I’ve made any progress on anything. My goal is to make meaningful progress on one or more but definitely not all.

• Find a way to make career coaching more accessible (Humu seems like a good idea)
• Find a way to make mental health care more accessible
• Help people eat or exercise better
• Make searching for a job easier
• Make it easier for people to understand how to save their money well
• Help veterans find meaningful work that leverages their skills
• Educate voters (and make it easier to understand the positions politicians take)
• Increase access to the Internet