One of my favorite examples of life’s work: In 1976, at the age of 58, Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy (Dr. V) started Aravind, an eleven bed hospital built to perform eye surgeries in India. Through constant iteration and optimization, Aravind would eventually cure blindness for millions of patients, at a tiny fraction the typical cost, and often at no cost to patients themselves. In his journal, in the 1980s, Dr. V. asked himself: “How do I become a perfect instrument?” Despite being permanently crippled by rheumatoid arthritis at age 30, Dr. V worked on Aravind until his death at age 87. He was utterly devoted. He quietly changed millions of lives. Reflecting on his work, he said “Intelligence and capability are not enough. There must be the joy of doing something beautiful…When we grow in spiritual consciousness, we identify ourselves with all that is in the world, and there is no exploitation. It is ourselves we are helping. It is ourselves we are healing.”