1. Customers.

2. Getting to pick the exceptional people we work with.

3. An opportunity to add value, big or small, to people’s lives.

4. Not having to ask permission to try something crazy.

5. The patience and understanding of our family and friends — especially when we likely don’t deserve it.

6. Receiving payment for value delivered. There’s no feeling like it.

7. The joy of seeing a sliver of light after some dark, dark, days.

8. The freedom to change what’s not working. It’s sometimes painful, but at least it’s possible.

9. Not having to rationalize to your family and friends why you took that Wall Street investment banking job.

10. Day 2,743, when the world celebrates your “overnight success”

11. The pleasure of helping team members create memories and experiences that will last a lifetime. Most of them good.

12. The chance to try. To fail. To try again and flail around. Then, with some luck, to flourish.