“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”
John Lennon

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”
Walt Disney

There’s the old anecdote about asking a kindergarten class who is an artist and all of them raise their hands but as you continue to ask the same group through the years how many are artists the numbers dwindle, the idea being that something causes kids to stop dreaming. I never got that memo.

It used to cross my mind occasionally that perhaps there was something wrong with me. Maybe I just needed to grow up and be a responsible adult. I tried this on a few occasions. It was mainly in my choice of employment. I did what seemed practical at the moment and was moderately successful, however you measure success as a claims adjuster.

Specifically, I handled claims for people who had been in car accidents. You need to know that when you are an auto claims adjuster you never catch people on their best day and half of the people you speak with are going to be upset with you.

Most days I sat in a cubicle and answered the phone all day. I took recorded statements, scheduled rental cars for people and set up appointments for damage appraisals.

Toward the end of my run as an adjuster I handled first party injury claims. If anyone was riding in a car that the company I worked for insured, was injured and treated, I would process their medical bills. That is to say that the bills would be reviewed by an outside company and they would recommend whether they were valid bills or not. Then I would decide whether or not I agreed with that recommendation. It was around this time that I realized that no one ever grows up wanting to be a claims adjuster. Well, perhaps there are children that want to be claims adjusters when they grow up. I suspect they would be an odd lot.

Today I work in an environment oozing with creativity, energy, diversity and a mission that consumes every person on our team. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone on our staff that can’t tell you why we come to work each day. A day does not pass when I don’t wonder how I came to be one of the few people who gets to love what he does for a living.

I heard Donald Miller speak yesterday on finding purpose in life. He suggests everyone ask three questions of themselves:

1) Who are you?
2) What do you want?
3) What’s the first step?

Do you want your life to have meaning? Purpose?

Answer those questions to get you started.