In Chapter 4 of 14 of his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon finds inspiration and purpose, his "why", by reading Viktor Frankl's book, "Man's Search for Meaning." Specifically, Frankl's quote, "Nietzsche's words 'He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how'" helps Gordon align his why, or purpose, when pursuing goals, no matter how challenging. The book chronicles Frankl's time as an inmate at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp during World War II and details his quest to find reason, or meaning, to live.
Transcript:
Erik Michielsen: How has Victor Frankl’s quote “A man who knows his why can bear almost any how” reflected in your own sense of purpose?
Jullien Gordon: I read that book A Man’s Search for Meaning in high school, it was in a class called Living and Dying and that quote just stuck out to me [asks Andrew a question] So I read that quote… I read Man’s Search for Meaning in high school in a class called Living and Dying and that’s where that quote came from and so for me your Why is your purpose, right? And so when you are clear, crystal clear on what it is your purpose is no matter what obstacles stand in your way in terms of living in alignment with that, you can over come them and of course Man’s Search for Meaning was about being… stuck and trapped in Auschwitz and how his ‘why’, which was a love of his family, helped sustain him during that try, trying time and so when you are clear of your ‘why’ and your reasoning for being in your own self worth, no matter what obstacles come your way you actually over come them.