HERP DERP ANYTHING YOU WANT IT TO BE DERP

Actually "anything you want it to be" is bullshit. That's hedonism. You'll wallow in low-class pleasures and watch your life pass by. As it turns out, the meaning in our lives is found in achievements, which are accomplished by work. Or, more appropriately, conscientiousness. Plan the life you'd like to have.

You get to have what you want and what would be good for you. What would that be?

You need direction. It is direction that produces primary positive emotion.

If you need positive emotion to get through life (which you do, because you can't even move without positive emotion, positive emotion is a good bulwark against terror and pain) if you need those things you need direction, you need a goal, you need a value structure.

If you take the men who are like that and say, "What do you want? You can have what you want, but you have to figure out what it is." So they write down what they want and they think, "Oh, hey, that might be worth having, so maybe I'll put some effort into it."

Responsibility. That's what gives life meaning.

Lift a load. Then you can tolerate yourself. People will carry a heavy load if they get to pick the goddamned load. And so they think, I won't carry any load. Well, OK, fine, but then you're like the sled dog that doesn't have a sled to pull. You're going to tear pieces out of your own legs because you're bored.

People are pack animals. They need to pull against a weight.

"Responsibility, man... that's where the meaning of life is."

-- Dr. Jordan Peterson