We’ve talked a lot recently about finding your Purpose, and I’ve had some great conversations with some of you about it – I’m so glad you guys are putting in the work! But where do we go from there? Once we know what our true life’s Purpose is, we can start to distill that into a long-term Mission that we want to accomplish, and some short-term Goals aligned with that Mission. There is a lot out there on the interwebs about goal setting, and you can also check out our blog post about identifying your best goals here with the highest chance of success.
What I wanted to dig into today is a mindset around being laser-focused on your Mission and Goals. I’ve shared a quote before around prioritizing your day to make sure you get the most important things done. There are a lot of similar quotes out there, but I really like the simplicity of “One Day, One Lifetime”, which was a philosophical lesson taught by Mark Divine’s karate sensei Tadashi Nakamura. What I get from this is that every day that we wake up is a new beginning, a new chance to do our absolute best. There is no room, and no reason, to obsess over trivial things like what might go wrong, to be afraid of failure (or success!) There is no time to reflect negatively on people that have hurt you or why you are in a bad situation. In this One Day, One Life, we have to hit the ground running toward achieving our goals and accomplishing our mission.
The other powerful way of looking at this is that we are not guaranteed another day. Today might be our last! I’m shamelessly including a clip from Rocky III here, where Rocky is having a bad training day with Apollo Creed, and sheepishly mumbles something like “tomorrow. we’ll do it tomorrow.” Apollo shouts back “There IS no tomorrow!!” Apollo is reminding Rocky that if you know what you need to do, what your One Thing Mission is, there is no time to waste!
At the risk of being morbid, reflecting on your own mortality and thinking about what you want to accomplish in your lifetime, and that there might not be a tomorrow to get it done, can help solidify where your priorities need to land today.
When you wake up in the morning, don’t pick up your phone and start checking emails or scrolling through the ‘Gram. Make a daily habit of reviewing your Purpose, and what Mission that is leading you to accomplish. Then plan out what big step you are going to take toward mission success. Today is the day! There is no tomorrow!!
Ryan