Work and Purpose
The key to have a productive and worthwhile life is to find a way to combine something you have a passion for, with how you spend a good part of most days. You need to commit to something bigger than you are. Bringing up your children, planting trees, building a business, improving a club or community. If you are lucky you can earn your living doing this, but most of us earn a living doing what we must, and devote as many leisure hours as possible to the things we feel passionate about.
I think our society has this one back to front. We've been told that goal setting is supremely important, that goal setting is the horse that pulls carts called success, happiness and good health. I suspect that in fact good health is the horse that makes it possible to set goals and to work hard towards difficult but worthwhile objectives.
The best piece of advice on this topic come from the excellent blog Brain Pickings, under the title: 
How to Let Your Life Speak, Discern Your Purpose, and Define Your Own Success.
In her blog The Tiny Buddha, Esther Litchfield-Fink wrote this short essay which makes some useful points. 3 Steps to Find Your Purpose When Life is Crashing Into Chaos.
