I worked incredibly hard over many years to win a principal oboe job. Ultimately, I failed at that goal. But along the way, the effort itself became a spiritual practice.

In this 9-minute companion video to the article,  Chronically dissatisfied with yourself? You may be setting the wrong goals,  I describe how this slew of rejections gave me a new understanding of the nature of goals. Some goals can doom you to frustration and misery. But when goals are set with skill and awareness, they can foster satisfaction and happiness.