http://hbr.org/2010/07/how-will-you-measure-your-life/ar/1

My class at HBS is structured to help my students understand what good management theory is and how it is built.

1. How can I be sure that I’ll be happy in my career?
2. How can I be sure that my relationships with my spouse and my family become an enduring source of happiness?
3. How can I be sure I’ll stay out of jail?

1.

Management is the most noble of professions if it’s practiced well. No other occupation offers as many ways to help others learn and grow, take responsibility and be recognized for achievement, and contribute to the success of a team. Doing deals doesn’t yield the deep rewards that come from building up people.

2.

I promise my students that if they take the time to figure out their life purpose, they’ll look back on it as the most important thing they discovered at HBS.

People don’t even think about whether their way of doing things yields success. They embrace priorities and follow procedures by instinct and assumption rather than by explicit decision—which means that they’ve created a culture. Families have cultures, just as companies do. Those cultures can be built consciously or evolve inadvertently.

3.

The marginal cost of doing something wrong “just this once” always seems alluringly low. It suckers you in, and you don’t ever look at where that path ultimately is headed and at the full costs that the choice entails. You’ve got to define for yourself what you stand for and draw the line in a safe place.

Think about the metric by which your life will be judged, and make a resolution to live every day so that in the end, your life will be judged a success