The selfish and Selfless Lifestyles

In the "Summoned Life", David Brooks presents two choices or styles of life of either a well-planned or the summoned life. Brooks refers to the Harvard Business Review on an excerpt by Clayton Christensen. Clayton uses two points in his life to connect both a well-planned and a summoned one. First, Clayton recalls his time at Oxford, "trying to cram an extra year's worth of work" and planning for his future. This relates to a well planned life because he spent time on only himself to prepare for the future. Later on, Clayton switches his story to one of his sporting career on a basketball team. At this time in his life he didn't focus on his future but rather lived day by day focusing on the people around him. As a serious christian, during this time, there was a game that was rather important on a Sunday. Clayton "refused to play in the championship game of an important tournament because it was on a Sunday." The summoned life as explained here shows a life of moral achievement rather than selfish achievement. Instead of focusing only on himself he thought more of the message it would send and what he believed he was "summoned" for. Brooks uses theses two examples from Clayton to show toe different successes. A well-planned life leads to achievement over a long time for yourself. The summoned life, however, is more of a day to day achievement of morals that lead to their own way of success because you fulfill what you believe you are summoned for.