“Life Pursuits: Chris Gardner” by Marta Bright, Bobbie Hartman, Christopher Null, Kate Pavao, Joe Shepter, Lia Simpson, and Tara Swords (Oracle Profit, August 2009). More words of wisdom to keep you going from Chris “The Pursuit of Happyness” Gardner.

Profit: What are you encouraging people to do in these uncertain times?

Gardner: One of the things I’ve encouraged people to do is to just turn the TV off. Use it for entertainment purposes only. All of the smart-guy pundits you see on television are saying, “The feds should do this. The Treasury should do that. Credit markets need to do this.” The truth is nobody really knows. Too many of us allow what we do to define who we are. If you’ve been laid off, fired, downsized, outsourced, or pushed out of a job, you really need to ask yourself, “Who am I?” It’s important not to confuse your self-worth with your net worth. Net worth is going to fluctuate, because that’s what markets do. They go up, and they go down. Your self-worth, who you are as a person, what’s important to you, and what you care about, those are the things in life that won’t fluctuate.

The entire interview will take you about 90 seconds to read. But you must invest the time to get the payback.