For most of us, to live is to work. Work is life’s biggest single waking activity, helping to satisfy several levels of our needs. Work supports us, giving us food, water, and shelter. Work connects us, meeting our social needs. Work defines us, satisfying our self-esteem needs. Work helps us understand someone we’ve met for the first time. Wondering, “Who are you?” we may instead ask, “So, what do you do?”

The answer, however, may give us only a fleeting snapshot of that person at a particular time and place. On the day we retire from the workforce, few of us will look back and say we have followed a predictable career path. We will have changed jobs, some of us often. The trigger for those changes may have been a desire for better pay, happier on-the-job relationships, or more fulfilling work.