I'm reading a book called The Stress of Life. Written by Hans Selye in 1956.

In one of the first pages he wrote something I very much like. He defines the highest aspirations of a human as A) to know himself and B) to devise a purposeful way of life.

In one way these two tasks seem very obvious. But I think I have never seen them as standalone challenges, missions or projects. Kind of more as something you do as you go. While you focus on the real, tangible missions like  building a startup, winning a bike race or starting a family. But I don't think that makes sense. Knowing yourself and winning a bike race belong in one and the same category.