What is your mission?

Have you ever gone to some kind of working professionals seminar? Project Management, Entrepreneurship, TEDx, any seminars that are similarly along those lines? If you have, then you probably had someone speak about mission, vision, and goals.

Depending on where you work you probably had some kind of orientation session that included those same kinds of topics. What is the company’s mission?

Those seminars, when they do talk about mission, try to get people thinking about how you as an individual should see and act out the mission of whatever your chosen career path is or for whatever company you are working for. It’s always business/work focused. The same obviously applies to new employee orientation sessions.

So, when I see a prompt like today’s, I’m going to take the “your” part more seriously as an individual OUTSIDE of work, because when I’m not on the clock I do not represent the company that signs my paychecks. Unfortunately, in today’s hyper connected social media landscape, people will throw you under the bus if you act like a jackass (at a minimum) and report you to your employer which likely ends with you getting fired. It is important I preface this because, again, I as an individual outside of work do not represent my company, however, my personal values and “mission” line up fairly closely with those of my company. I do my best to be a good person, so I have little to be concerned with in that regard.

With all of that out of the way, I can talk about MY mission. Which, honestly, I’ve never given too much thought! I just try to be a good person, helping my friends, family, and even strangers when they need it, passing along good vibes and just rolling through life. I’ve never stopped and thought to myself “Yes, this is my purpose in life. My mission. My calling.”

Reading today’s prompt actually did that, and I’m struggling to properly define my mission. It’s all well and good to say “My mission is to be a good person, yada yada yada.” But that doesn’t really count as a mission. I’m not actively seeking out things and working through life to consistently accomplish things for any sort of personal mission.

I think that needs to change.

What SHOULD my mission be? If I enjoy writing and hope to someday get published, then maybe I could say my mission is to write stories that other people will appreciate and enjoy. That they can relate to a character sometimes and be able to do some measure of introspection and help themselves become a better, happier person. My mission could be to write stories that have a positive impact on the lives of readers and the people they interact with every day.

Perhaps, through my blog, I can share my thoughts and make a positive impact in that space as well.

Sounds like I have a long road ahead of me, and I appreciate every encouraging comment I’ve received so far when talking about these kinds of goals, so maybe, just MAYBE, I’m on the right track. Just need to keep up the effort towards this “mission”.