At the risk of self-promotion: http://mikekchar.github.io/portfolio/UsefulAndBeneficial/ http://mikekchar.github.io/portfolio/UsefulAndBeneficial/ It may or ma

At the risk of self-promotion: http://mikekchar.github.io/portfolio/UsefulAndBeneficial/ http://mikekchar.github.io/portfolio/UsefulAndBeneficial/ It may or may not help you. I've shown it to a lot of people and I have to admit that most people don't really connect with it. However, for me it was a pivotal realization that got me out of the grind and I hope it will help you too. At that time I quit my job and spent 8 months writing free software. I didn't know what to do and thought seriously about quitting being a programmer altogether. During those 8 months, I wrote code almost every waking moment and discovered that I loved writing code. What I hated was fighting with people over all the broken stuff at work. And that's when it hit me. My colleagues hated fighting with me over all the broken stuff at work too. That's why I was burning myself out and getting no recognition. They didn't realize that everything was broken and I spent all of my energy trying to convince them. I realized that if I simply did what I enjoyed, writing code, the other people would be happy with me too -- even if the company came crashing down around my ears. So I decided to try it in my next job. Not only were people delighted with me, but they increasingly invited me to fix their other problems (as they realized them). I stopped fighting and started just fixing stuff. I was happy. I've since realized that many people and organizations need help. But if you dive in too much, you get caught up in their craziness. Their life and death struggles become yours -- and you can't do anything about it because it depends on them changing. If you step back and simply lend your strength where it is desired -- allowing them to fail if they are intent in doing so -- you can live a peaceful life. Hope that helps.