There is a great scene in “Alice in Wonderland” where Alice asks the Cheshire Cat, “Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?”

The cat replies, “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”

It’s important to know where you want to go; to have a purpose in life. Finding that purpose is among life’s biggest challenges. Discovering what is important to you, what you are passionate about and where you can make a difference -- those are the factors that drive your purpose.

No matter how much money you make or how famous you become, living without a purpose takes the joy out of life. When the most important part of your existence is missing, the quest for success becomes hollow.

People with a strong sense of purpose know what they want, why they want it and how they plan to achieve it. Purpose-driven people get in the habit of doing things they don’t like to do in order to accomplish the purpose they have defined for themselves.

Businessman and philanthropist W. Clement Stone said: “When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it.”

Winston Churchill, addressing the House of Commons in his first speech as prime minister in 1940, made his purpose crystal clear: “You ask: ‘What is our aim?’ I can answer in one word: Victory! Victory at all costs, victory in spite of terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.”

Rosa Parks also had a purpose: to take a stand for personal dignity. She believed that having to give up her seat on the bus because of her skin color was not right. She took a stand for human rights and put equality for all people in a new perspective.

Vietnam veteran Jan Scruggs had a vision and commitment to recognizing soldiers who died in that war. Today the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, engraved with the names of more than 58,000 Americans who lost their lives in that conflict, is the most visited monument in Washington, D.C.

Candy Lightner’s life changed on May 3, 1980, when her daughter was killed by a drunk driver. Less than a week later, the grieving mother met with friends to discuss what they could do to make an impact on drunk-driving fatalities, and thus Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) was born. Today there are more than 360 chapters of MADD throughout the world, and hundreds of new laws have passed addressing drunk driving.

In February 1980, the U.S. Men’s Olympic hockey team did the seemingly impossible by upsetting the heavily favored Soviet team and then beating Finland to capture the gold medal in Lake Placid, New York, to shouts of “U.S.A.!” Before his team's victory over the Soviet Union, the coach of the U.S. hockey team, my friend Herb Brooks, told his players, “You are born to be a player. You are meant to be here at this time. This is your moment.”

James Montgomery Boice, in his book “Learning to Lead,” tells a story about Yogi Berra, the famous catcher for the New York Yankees, and Hank Aaron, who at that time was playing for the Milwaukee Braves. The teams were playing in the World Series, and the famously talkative Yogi chattered nonstop, intending to pep up his teammates and rattle the Milwaukee batters. As Aaron came to the plate, Yogi, trying to distract him, said, “Henry, you're holding the bat wrong. You're supposed to hold it so you can read the trademark.”

Aaron responded by smacking the next pitch into the left-field bleachers. After rounding the bases and touching home plate, Aaron looked at Yogi and said, “I didn't come up here to read.”

Mackay’s Moral: A person without a purpose is like a plane without wings.

(Harvey Mackay is the author of the New York Times bestseller "Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive." He can be reached through his website, www.harveymackay.com, by emailing harvey@mackay.com or by writing him at MackayMitchell Envelope Co., 2100 Elm St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414.)

Listening is in danger of becoming a lost art. This old anonymous piece, slightly abridged, just about sums it up:

"When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving advice, you have not done what I asked.

"When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I shouldn’t feel that way, you are trampling on my feelings.

When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve my problems, you have failed me, strange as that may seem.

All I ask is that you listen."

To remind us all, March is International Listening Month.

Listening is just as important to business. When Charles Wang’s family arrived in America, they had only two suitcases. Wang, now a multi-billionaire, said his company grew because they listened to their clients. While most computer companies sell people what they need, Wang decided to ask customers what they wanted.

Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, said: “The key to success is to get out into the store and listen to what the associates have to say. It’s terribly important for everyone to get involved. Our best ideas come from clerks and stockboys.”

Walton once took his corporate plane to Mt. Pleasant, Texas, and told the pilot to pick him up 100 miles or so down the road. He jumped in a Walmart truck and rode the rest of the way to “chat with the driver.” I suspect he let the driver do most of the talking.

Norman Brinker, the former chairman of the restaurant chain Chili’s, said responsive communication is the key to good relations with both employees and shareholders. It pays huge dividends. Almost 80% of the Chili’s menu came from suggestions made by unit managers.

Too many salespeople talk when they should listen. Ben Feldman was the first salesperson to crack the $25 million mark in a calendar year. And then he doubled that figure. He was the insurance company New York Life's leading sales rep for more than two decades, and he did this in the small town of East Liverpool, Ohio. When asked his secret, he said:

1. Work hard.

2. Think big.

3. Listen very well.

The Healthline website shares these tips for learning active listening:

-- Give people your full attention. Concentrate on their words to the exclusion of everything else. Don’t plan your response while they’re still speaking, and don’t use a pause to steer the conversation around to another topic.

-- Use positive body language. Your body communicates just as much as your words do, if not more. Make sure you’re fully facing the other person. Relax your body, but lean in slightly to show interest in what they’re saying. Make eye contact. Nod to show you’re listening and that you understand.

-- Don’t interrupt. You may be tempted to jump in with an idea or solution. Restrain the impulse. Instead, wait to start talking before asking questions or offering your point of view.

President Franklin Roosevelt often endured long receiving lines at the White House. According to an old story, He complained that no one really paid any attention to what was said. One day, during a reception, he decided to try an experiment. To each person who passed down the line and shook his hand, he murmured, “I murdered my grandmother this morning.” The guests responded with phrases like, “Marvelous! Keep up the good work. We are proud of you. God bless you, sir.” Only one person noticed, in some versions an ambassador, in some a banker. Nonplussed, this person leaned over and whispered, “I'm sure she had it coming.”

Mackay’s Moral: If you want people to listen to you, you must listen to them.

Years ago, I was on a flight from Minneapolis to New York, when a businessman sitting next to me reached in his briefcase and pulled out my first book, “Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.”

I was going crazy inside, and blurted out, “How do you like that book?”

“Well,” he said, “My boss gave me a choice of three business books to read. I picked this one because it was the shortest.”

Talk about a letdown, but at least he was reading. And I sincerely hope that the short chapters and many business lessons gave him plenty of take-home value.

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, March is designated as National Reading Month -- a month to motivate Americans of all ages to read every day. Reading is fun and has many benefits, regardless of your age. It's a key component of education and professional development. Books illuminate your imagination, enhance your vocabulary, build confidence and improve memory, writing and communication skills. Reading also has immediate and long-lasting health benefits, such as increased cognitive function, empathy and decreased levels of stress.

I love this quote from famed speaker Charlie “Tremendous” Jones: “Don’t read to be big, read to be down to earth. Don’t read to be smart, read to be wise. Don’t read to memorize, read to realize. Don’t read to just learn, read to sometimes unlearn."

People’s lives change in two ways -- the people they meet and the books they read.

Charlie Jones first uttered something similar to this, and I have repeated this point every speech I’ve given to corporate audiences. I believe it’s that important. You cannot open a book without learning something.

Whenever I read a book, I want to get at least one idea from it that I can use the rest of my life.

Books are easier to access now than ever before. I keep several downloaded on my phone and iPad when I’m traveling -- much easier than when my briefcase was bulging with reading material in the “old days.” Audiobooks have long been one of my go-to pastimes.

Bestselling author Og Mandino said: “Many years ago, when I was just about as complete a failure as one can become, I began to spend a good deal of time in libraries, looking for some answers. I found all the answers I needed in that golden vein of ore that every library has.”

Radio, television, computers and the internet were proclaimed to be the final replacement for conventional books when each first became popular. But more books than ever are being published, and more copies are being sold. Here’s my prediction: Traditional paper pages will not become extinct anytime soon. There’s just something about turning the pages that keeps you engaged.

Books are a great source to learn from top mentors in all subjects, even when you can’t meet with them personally.

Books offer a remarkable flexibility. There are so many excellent books written every year, and if the information in one doesn’t grab your attention, you can try another author’s approach.

Inscribed on the Thomas Jefferson Building at the Library of Congress are the first eight words of this quotation by philosopher and writer Henry David Thoreau: “Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations. Their authors are a natural and irresistible aristocracy in every society, and more than kings or emperors exert an influence on mankind.”

Do you realize that just 200 years ago, only about 12% of the world’s population could read and write? Today, that number is between 85% and 90%. Just imagine the progress made as the world becomes more literate. The possibilities are limitless.

Mackay’s Moral: Reading helps install new software in brains.