Sixteen years ago, when my daughter Stefanie was nine and her sister Madi was six, I was dying.

I remember waking after my second surgery, following months of suffering, with one horrifying thought: If I didn’t live, who would raise my daughters?

Who would teach my daughter Madi to ride a two-wheeler? Who would teach both girls to throw and catch a ball? Who would laugh at their silly jokes and comfort them when they hurt? Who would be there to applaud their successes, to watch them graduate, or to walk down the aisle with them on their wedding day?

That day, I decided I had a strong reason to do everything I could to live. I understood for the first time that how long I lived was less important than how I lived.

Monday, my daughter Stefanie married Nathan. There was no walk down the aisle; it was, for their own reasons, a civil ceremony at New York City Hall. But I was there to share the moment. I had been there to play catch with her, to laugh at her silly jokes, to hold her when she hurt, to applaud her successes and to watch her and her sister graduate from college.

Ten years ago, I stopped practicing law. It wasn’t what I wanted to do. I wanted to help people find what made them happy and made them feel successful and fulfilled. That became my reason to do what I do and has kept me happy since.

I believe you can have the life and the practice or business you want if you start with these two ideas:

Have a reason to live. Make sure it’s something that you’d hate having taken from you. Write it down and post it where you can be reminded of it every day.

Have a reason to do the work you do. Write that down, too, so you can look at it every day. If no reasons come to mind, search deep within you to find one and get help if you need it.

Together, these two reasons can be your personal mission, and having a mission will help you find what makes you happy and feel successful.

If you think I might be able to help, contact me to talk about it.

In the meantime, keep REACHING…

Sandy