It’s become clear to me in the past few weeks that my mission in life is to help other veterans rediscover their mission in life. We had a very clear mission in the military but civilian life is not so structured, so it can be very easy to lose your way. I know I did.
I intuitively chose the next steps in my life over the past 30 years. I thought it would be a good idea to go back to school; so I did. I thought it would be a good idea to get a job; so I did. There was no plan and there certainly was no mission. I liked what I did, but at the end of the day, it was just a job. I ended up at a place where I was unsatisfied and bored and couldn’t tell you why. From the outside, I’m sure it all looked great. As I spoke of before, I buffered my emotions with food and with cigarettes.
I had no clue what my mission was, but I knew I had to find it or else live the rest of my life regretting what might have been.
I didn’t know where to start, so I started with my mind and my body. I’d always heard that there was a connection between mind-body-soul so I figured if I could get my mind and body marching in the right direction, my soul’s mission would eventually come to light.
I used the following process to improve in each area.
Plan—> Execute—> Review—> Repeat
I started with daily goals for my mind and body. There was no way I could have started with a 5 year goal. I hand wrote a plan with three things I would accomplish that day, executed the plan, then reviewed what went well and what didn’t every single day. I then tweaked my plan as time went by to find what worked for me. I created new habits and once they were ingrained, I added new ones. I continue this practice on a daily basis.
Once I got my mind and body on the right track, I started listening and reading to more and more books and podcasts on how to find and clarify your purpose. Most of the material said that I already knew what it was and that my brain was blocking it. Wait, what? All this time I knew what it was?
I went through a process of journaling and self-interviewing over many weeks to get my thoughts out of my head and I followed several methodologies to get there, but I did finally figure out what lights me up. They were right, it was there the whole time. It’s such a relief to have figured it out. Now what am I going to do? I’m going to Plan, Execute, Review to figure it out!
What’s your mission my friends?
