Summary: "The Summoned Self"

     "The Summoned Self" by David Brooks tells the story about two different ways to approach life. The first, which he calls the Well-Planned Life, is all about planning your life out like a well constructed project with a beginning, middle, and an end. Its "overall purpose...[is] about allocating your time, energy, and talent" (Brooks). Make sure not to stretch yourself out too much on anything. In the end, your life should appear to be constructed in a way that was carefully organized and "brought toward a well-rounded fruition" (Brooks).
     In contrast to the Well-Planned Life, there is the Summoned Life. This is the second way of thinking about ones life. In this method life isn't a project like the in the Well-Planned Life, but instead "an unknown landscape to be explored" (Brooks). It states that we cannot yet know the meaning of life because we have not lived through it yet. In the Summoned Life, current circumstances are used in order to try and figure out what that individual is being "summoned" to do and what would be most beneficial for them.
     Although both of these plans for life have its benefits and drawbacks, they both are "useful for a person trying to live a well-considered life" (Brooks).