How do you define yourself? What’s the purpose of your life? What do you want to accomplish?
In the business world, these questions are answered with a mission statement. For example, Disney’s mission is to “create happiness by providing the finest entertainment for people of all ages, everywhere”. Its how they define themselves. The mission statement is the broad stroke. How they choose to accomplish that is determined by the finer strokes of strategic planning and goal setting.
We should do the same thing in our personal lives. I have a friend who’s a woman of faith and I believe it’s her mission to live her life spreading the message of Christianity, not by words but by example. You wouldn’t recognize this immediately. Instead you’d see a happy, confident, self-depricating, funny lady who’s excited about life. She’s my doctor and as a doctor she’s compassionate, non-judgmental, but strong. She listens, really listens to her patients, even if it means taking extra time. As a friend, she’s generous with her time and spirit. When she invites people to her home she adds life to the party out of love for her guests and we feel it. As a wife, she revels in the things that make her husband excited about his life. There’s clearly mutual respect and admiration between the two of them. They have no children of their own but as an Aunt she’s the pied piper. She supports the successes of her neices and nephews. She attends their events, takes them on trips, and gently shepherds their emerging values.
Karen would be annoyed with me for making her out to be so perfect. She’d be the first to tell you that she’s anything but perfect. So yes, we can add humility to the list. And truthfully, in some ways, she’s a mess just like all of us. But she’s living her mission. Everything she does is congruent with her passion and consequently she’s excited to get out of bed in the morning and face whatever challenge might cross her path.
Spend some time thinking about your destiny. Write a personal mission statement. It will help bring your life into focus and bring you joy…tis the season for that.
Tags: Confidence, dreams, happiness, life, love, passion, self-esteem, spirituality, success
