This was Gawande's blunt, practical test for whether you've found meaningful work. After eloquently describing purpose as a search for the right place, he offered a simple diagnostic: if you stop caring about others and your greatest concern becomes only yourself, that's your signal to leave. You want a place that suits who you are, links you to others, and gives you a purpose beyond yourself worth making sacrifices for. In his own hospital, he found that everyone had to matter — whether a 90-year-old with dementia or a 13-year-old with cancer.