A Word About Mission

"Outstanding people have one thing in common: an absolute sense of mission." - Zig Zigler

New Year is a time when we typically think about some resolutions - things that we can change in our lives. Most of us don't keep them but a lot of us write them just because. I have some for myself this year. 

- I'm keeping my phone out of my bedroom at night and out of the bathroom. Hours of my life down the drain. 

- 10-minute showers. I can spend an eternity in there, but I don't need it. I'm timing my showers now and holding myself accountable in this area.

- I'm going to aim for 750 miles ran in 2019 - which comes out to 15 miles a week with two weeks off. 

These are things that I can do, that I've started doing, and that will help me be a more productive and energized person this year if I can follow through with them. But what is honestly the point of New Year's resolutions? The point is that they help us develop a mission. 

Do you know what your mission is? Why you are here, why you are breathing every day, a destination that you are constantly trying to reach? Everybody needs a mission or else life becomes a game of survival, just earning the means to get from one day to the next. Somedays this is all we can handle and I understand that, but we also need to learn to build some perspective which can help us have a big picture for your life. My mission, put briefly is to be a light for Christ in a dark world, to survive middle and high school and to learn as much as I can to prepare myself for college and the real world.

In order to fulfill that mission I need to be productive and I need some exercise so I don't go crazy. Alas, the resolutions are tangible goals to help me attain a goal which isn't tangible. They are changes in weak areas of my life to help me focus on the big picture. Day to day survival is for animals, I'm focussed on my mission. 

So instead of writing a bunch of corny resolutions that you'll have broken before Groundhog's day, think about your mission. For me, it's been very helpful to take time at this time of year to write a mission statement and post it on my bulletin board. I try to spend time reading it every day so that I'm reacquainted with those goals and try to live them daily. Attached is my mission statement from last year so that you can see an example. Yours doesn't have to look anything like mine, but it is helpful to remember why you are doing what you are doing and what the end goal should be so that, in a couple days, when your routine is running like crazy again, you don't forget your purpose. And it's not about writing a document like this, though it has helped me over the last few years, it's just about knowing what your purpose and your mission is and actually taking steps to get there, rather than aiming at survival each and every day. Do that, and you'll blink and be in a grave. 

Resolutions can then come alongside that and aid you in your mission. I have a chart in my room for the month of January with tangible steps to help me reach my main mission for 2019 for accountability. These are great things. But before you think about some useless steps, think about why you are doing it and think about your mission, not just for this fresh start, but every day.