Taking pride in work for its own sake , doing the best job we can without demanding praise or adulation or other kinds of approval ( while still appreciating some when we get it !) takes us closer to real fulfilment . Serving a bigger cause and the community and thinking of ' we ' at least as much as ' me ' all helps counterbalance the feverish greed to become famous for the sake of fame alone .
I ' ve often found that things have gone better for me when I ' ve been focused on providing the best service I can rather than on just seeking success as an end in itself . The power of not wanting too much is certainly , I think , under appreciated in our culture .
So , what became of Mike ?
He became , bit by bit , less depressed and more focused on finding intrinsically rewarding work . The last I heard , eight or nine years after he came to see me , he was working for himself as a picture framer and doing quite well .
Maybe , whatever it might seem to the world , he is following his own path towards the Sun .