Satisfaction

I find hard physical labor satisfying, and the dirt, scratches or soreness that goes with it is a reminder of that satisfaction.

I also find solving problems satisfying whether it is fixing something by tightening a screw or getting a query in a database to work properly.

I like being useful whether that means answering someone's question, holding the door open for someone with too much in their hands, reading a book to a child or making a thoughtful observation that someone finds helpful.

Creating something new out of old things, or just a new drawing, painting, etc. is also satisfying.

No matter your occupation or position in life I think everyone finds aspects of it that they like better than others. Sometimes when we feel unsatisfied with life currently I feel like there is a tendency to want to drastically change your life. Move somewhere else, quit your job, etc. However, I'm not convinced that is necessarily the answer, because as I said before there are always things that we don't enjoy..... but maybe instead of trying to drastically change our lives we can instead try to find opportunities to incorporate things that give us satisfaction.

I don't often have the need to do hard labor but the other day when a friend was moving I volunteered to help. Once when my Mom needed a handout for a lesson I volunteered to whip one up instead of just letting her get one offline (sure she could have just used a pre-made one but it was more fun for both of us that I made one).

That said I think there will always be times of discouragement and depression whether you are living a balanced life or not but I think recognizing what makes you satisfied and looking for opportunities to do them does help.

Reach Higher

I went to an uplifting lecture a couple of years ago on a college campus and the speaker told us to hold our hands over our heads. We raised them. Then for the next 60 seconds or so he kept urging us to make sure that we were reaching as high as possible. Then, he paused and with great energy said "Reach Higher." The whole room moved as we each shot our hands past our "maximum" height, just a little higher.
Over the last couple of months I have had several daily goals. One is to go to bed between 10:30 and 11:00 and the other was after I got home from school to work for a half hour on school work and another half hour on one of my own projects. So in other words after I got home between 4:30 and 5:30 I would be productive for at least an additional hour before going to bed.  Most days I would succeed, but sometimes it seemed hard to fit it in.
This week I decided I could do better and made my goal at least two and a half hours of productivity, plus going to bed a little earlier. It was a struggle and I didn't quite make it two days but the other three days I exceeded my new goal (by smidgens). I did less entertainment and more projects and I feel like I got a lot done this week.
I guess it is easy to sell ourselves short sometimes. Our hands are up, isn't that good enough? Or maybe they are even as high as we can reach at least until we try to reach harder...

On the Shoulders of Giants

Standing on the shoulders of giants is a saying that suggests that we only can achieve what we do because of the foundation already provided by generations before us. This analogy seems especially prevalent when thinking of education, perhaps, particularly science education although most fields can see it. Instead of working out the answers of problems that people faced previously we can start by learning the answers they came up with and then seek to answer the questions that come to light because of this new view.
That seems pretty straight forward but there seems to be downfalls.
First, what do we lose when we don't walk the same path that our predecessors  did? There is a knowledge, an understanding, that you can't get any other way except by solving the problem yourself. And by jumping that step I think you miss out. This may (in most cases) be a worthwhile sacrifice but it is still perhaps something to thing about and gratitude for the previous work should be acknowledged (as the statement in question implies).
Second, in some topics this philosophy seems.... less effective. Some problems appear over and over again, seeming to reappear with every generation. Just from my own observation, and comments from my Dad, these problems that must be rediscovered are moral in nature. Each generation has to rediscover, and redefine in their changing culture, what honesty is, how to balance religion and science, individual roles (economic, caste, gender), etc. Some of this can be taught by the previous generation and some individuals will get it but it seems that as a whole the generation must reestablish itself.
I'm not sure why moral issues are more difficult to be built up on. Maybe because the evidence tends to be more qualitative rather then quantitative. Maybe because often both sides (or all sides) seem reasonable especially in varying circumstances.
In some ways it seems ironic. We, as the human race, are so far ahead in some ways and yet we are continually going over the same ground in others.

Punctuality

I have a friend who is always late and usually by quite a bit (20 minutes or so).
When I'm late for some things it is super stressful for me, but other things I actually like being a little late too. Also, some things I find it easy to be on time for while others I always feel like I'm almost always accidentally late. So what is the difference?
Things like church and classes I'm taking, I find it relatively easy to be on time for (and I hate being late to). These things are consistently at the same time and I usually can gauge the exact time it will take for me to get there because all it entails to get there is to walk there from my current location (which is usually the same place).
Social engagements especially with larger groups of people I sometimes prefer to be late (5 to 10 minutes) because that way you aren't awkwardly early and it is easier to slide in unnoticed. But half the time I am more late than that. I think my lateness usually derives from being overly optimistic about the time it will take me to get somewhere. This is especially problematic when I'm in the middle of something else, because it is easy to say "oh I can just finish this one thing and still get there. It won't take me that long."
Unfortunately, it is the unusual appointments with only 1 or 2 people that I get most stressed about when I am late, but are also some of the most difficult for me to get to on time because I am likely to already be involved in other things before them and I'm also probably not used to going wherever it is so I will be overly optimistic about the time it will take me to get there... A rather unfortunate combination.