Brooks presented this as the practical takeaway from Viktor Frankl's philosophy of the 'summoned life.' Rather than sitting still and waiting for purpose to arrive, or frenetically chasing after it, Brooks recommended a middle path: place yourself in situations where you're likely to encounter problems that call to you. He illustrated this through his own career. He had always dreamed of writing long magazine articles, but when the New York Times offered him a column — 800 words twice a week, 'imagine you have a paper due in three days and imagine that's the rest of your life' — he initially wanted to turn it down. But life was asking this of him. He took the job. 'My enjoyment is worse but my satisfaction is better,' he admitted. The advice was especially relevant for Rice graduates entering what Brooks called the 'Odyssey' period of their twenties. Previous generations got their degree, found a job, got married, and bought a home in rapid succession. Today's graduates spend a decade moving from city to city and job to job. Brooks reframed this wandering not as aimlessness but as positioning — putting yourself in the path of the summons that will define your life's work.