HOW TO KNOW YOUR MISSION IN LIFE AND HOW TO LIVE IT

Photo courtesy of greatschools.org

When you were a kid people used to ask you a question; what do you want to be when you grow up? Do you remember your favourite answer was what?

Like many kids, I would answer I wanted to be a pilot. But here I am, I am not a pilot, and never thought about career in flying planes. Children would base their answers on the career taken by someone they know in their families, or an interesting story they have been exposed to.
Some children would be referring themselves to movies, TV or stories in the books.

Now that you are no longer a child, the question can be rephrased as: What do you want to do in your life? Or what is your mission in this world?
In this we want to know what you want to be, what you want to do in order that you feel you are really making a contribution in this world, that your life is really meaningful.

Unfortunately, for many of people this question has no an immediate answer. Some would resort to the childhood style and mention a career they want to take – like I want to be an actor.

For some people, they would say they are not sure yet, they are still searching themselves.

To know what you want in life:

1. Note that it is not too late

Just remember a journey starts by a step, and then steps until you reach the destination. Don’t be afraid to start your journey to what makes your life meaningful in this world. Because this is your mission, everybody can have a mission that he or she can accomplish; the problem is when you try to accomplish someone else’s mission. Since it is your mission, it is always not too late, find yourself, but first you need to convince yourself that there is huge meaning in finding and living that mission of yours.

2. See the need/reason why you need to know what you want

You may have a good job or making a lot of money in what you currently do, but still you won’t find the real meaning of life until you know what your mission really is. Simply put it this way, your true mission is what makes you feel good, it is what brings excitement to you whenever you do it, it is what you enjoy, and it is what you are proud to show to the world. It is what makes you feel you have real contribution in this world.

3. It is more than a career:

As you deeply search yourself for your mission, you will definitely realize that your mission though it involves a particular career, it is more than career. It may require you at some point to break the rules of a particular career so that you can independently achieve what is yours – that thing which is burning your heart, that thing you wish to achieve. Here I mean uniqueness in approach is in many cases an essential factor to helping you achieve your mission.
Your mission may be on your passion. Read FINDING YOUR PASSION AND LET IT WORK FOR YOU

4. Right information is the key: 

You need information that will open your mind into self-discovery – you need to discover yourself. You need information to help you see the big picture of life; see more opportunities, ways to turn challenges into opportunities.

You need information to help you learn what it takes to achieve your mission – you need to know what it takes in terms of finance, knowledge and skills, and other kind of support like who you should connect to. Remember the saying “information creates performance”

5. Find role model

Role model is someone who is currently or in the past has undertaken the mission you also want to take. For example if you are thinking of becoming a public speaker who helps students to overcome stress and motivate them to study hard then look for those public speakers who have done this job before. You can use internet to search or you can make direct contact with a selected number of public speakers, learn their lives, challenges, their successes and failures. This study of role models will not only help you understand better what it takes to be what you want to be, but it will also prepare you to become successful in what you want to be.

6. Get yourself a mentor

A mentor is someone who will be advising you, and be there to answer your questions when you need direction. However, don’t be over reliant to a mentor in such a way that you let the mentor do the whole job. Use your brain, work hard and go for advice only when you really need it. Areas where you really need a mentor are for instance when you want to assess challenges, risks and opportunities of an initiative you want to take. A mentor therefore should be someone with adequate knowledge in the subject you want to enquire.

7. Know your weaknesses and strength

Your weaknesses may become your obstacles on the way to realize your mission; therefore to know them in advance will help you manage them so that they don’t stop you to achieve what you want to achieve in life. To live without knowing your weaknesses is like going to war without knowledge of the road to enemy’s camp; you may be caught off-guard.

However, remember that your weaknesses are not meant to be permanent. You can work hard to eliminate them. You may also learn that some weaknesses are good when properly applied. A good example of weakness would be fear, if you use it well it may help you not to get into unnecessary troubles.

8. Associate yourself with the right people

The people you surround yourself with have the effect to influence what you think, as Buddha said, we become what we think. For the health of your mind, I would suggest that ‘’you pick battle small enough to win, but big enough to matter’’. What I simply mean here is that you should have appropriate number and type of connections which are appropriate to your mission.

9. Hard work 

You have the duty of working hard, hard enough to win your weaknesses, hard enough to overcome challenges that come on the way as you go for your mission.

Since your mission doesn’t have an end, you should remember that hard working doesn’t end until you die. So, don’t be carried away by success, consider success as a sign that bad times are coming, so while you enjoy success, prepare for the bad times. Remember you have come a long way to find out what your mission is, therefore keep working hard, and don’t let anything take your mission away from you.