While leafing through the musty book, a black and white pamphlet slipped out of page 58. It was a corporate publication entitled By the Sweat of Your Brow, by Tom D. Eilers, President of World Insurance Company.

There was no copyright or publication date, although the booklet looked as if it was printed in the 1950's. I was born in 1963, so Eiler's theme took me back to a Puritan time that I had forgotten existed not so long ago É

Eilers wrote:

The Earth gives its fruits only to those who labor for them. É The common denominator for success is work.

Without it man loses his vision, his confidence, his enthusiasm. His life becomes meaningless.

On the other hand, there is no other preventative or cure so effective for boredom and fatigue, or for many of our mental and emotional ills, as an honest day's work every working day of the year É

Times have changed. In the last two decades, we've been trying to find meaning beyond work. We strive to find time to run along the river, play with our kids, and pray or meditate in order to get meaning back into our lives. Was Tom wrong? Or should we take his advice and burn our gym contract, send the kids back to daycare, and cancel that around the world sailing trip É and take on longer hours?

Thank goodness we are learning to find meaning within and beyond work.

Holly Gordon is the co-owner of Holly Gordon Associates, LLC, Advertising & Marketing. Holly Gordon Associates (HGA) was founded in 1986 and specializes in the health care, telemedicine, technology, and finance/accounting industries.