Something to "Live For"

In Arthur Miller’s great play "Death of a Salesman," Willy Loman’s wife cannot understand why he should have committed suicide, especially at the time he did. For the first time in 35 years they were just about free and clear. He only needed a little salary, and he was even finished with the dentist. But a friend says, wisely, “No man only needs a little salary. When a person’s dreams and goals and purposes in life are destroyed, that person is destroyed. We not only need something to live on, we need something to live for.”

I have run into many people in my life that for one reason or another eventually begin to make statements that are so negative about life, that they begin to sound suicidal.

Sometimes business owners say things like:
"If this market doesn't turn around my life is over."
"I wish I was dead so I didn't have to think about how to recover this business."
Or "Life just isn't worth living."

I know this is negative, but unfortunately things like this are said everyday. And even more sadly, people believe those statements so much that some even follow through. This is a tragedy of tremendous and unimaginable proportions because it can be avoided.

When someone says life isn't worth living, what they are really saying is that they don't have a single goal that is worth striving for.

We are all unique, and that makes us valuable. No matter who we are, what we do, what we look like, where we go, or whether our business fails or succeeds. You are the only you this world will ever see, and when you are gone, the world has lost something so unique and special it is truly impossible to replace.

And when you bring something unique to the world's table, there will always be at any given point in time, something you can make a positive difference on, someone you can add value to, or some goal that is worth being alive long enough to see realized.

May I just encourage you that in a soft market, or in the midst of unthinkable debt, perceived failure, or even if you don't have something to "live on" you always have something to 'live for." Take a moment and find it, and when that goal is realized, find the next one.

YOU ARE THE ONLY YOU, THIS WORLD WILL EVER SEE, and that is a Strategic Advantage if I ever found one. Never stop dreaming, and find what drives you.

- Jon Bohm