Most churches have mission statements. Corporations and businesses have mission statements. Mission statements are meant to infuse an organization with long-term vision and set the tone for all company goals, accomplishments and efforts. So, what’s a mission statement?
What is a Mission Statement
A mission statement acts as an invisible hand that guides the people in the organization. It explains the organization’s reason for being, and answers the question, “What business are we in?” However, a personal mission statement is different. And there’s a scene from the movie Selma illustrates the power of having a personal mission statement.
The scene takes place in the social hall of Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, Alabama. Two Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee college students are being taken to task by Southern Christian Leadership Conference leader Reverend C.T. Vivian as Coretta Scott King looks on. And then a voice from the back of the room speaks. “That’s enough,” reprimands Martin Luther King Jr. “Enough of this, now. I don’t have time for this. None of us got the time for this. The way our organization works is simple:
We negotiate, we demonstrate, we resist.
We raise white consciousness. And in particular, the consciousness of whichever white man happens to be sitting in the Oval Office.”
In 1954, The Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL called Rev. Dr. Martin Luther, Jr. to serve as their pastor. He was just 25 years old.
A year after he arrived in Montgomery, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a public bus, and King led the Montgomery bus boycott to end segregation. His decision to lead the boycott would thrust him into the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement.
Leadership isn’t about having a title. Often, the strongest leaders in an organization, and in life, are those who don’t have official titles. Who gave King permission to make a difference? No one! Why:
You don’t need permission to make a difference.
King’s most powerful asset was his ability to focus on the task at hand. Focus and determination beat brains and intellect every time. You don’t necessarily have to be smarter or better educated to succeed.
Your power lies in your ability to focus on doing what is important. If you focus on the right things, and work at them often, you will achieve exceptional results.
Again, you don’t need permission to make a difference.
The new year is here. Many made resolutions to do better and be better. You’ve written goals and shared them with your family and friends so they can hold you accountable, right? Wrong move!
Psychologist know when you tell someone your goals, and it is acknowledged by them, you are more unlikely to do the job to achieve your goals. Why? Your brain can’t tell the difference between talking and doing. When we talk about what we’re going to do (our goals), two things happen:
Gratification
Satisfaction
When we share our goals and others acknowledge them, gratification and satisfaction tricks your brain into feeling that the goal has already been accomplished. The satisfaction you experience in the telling removes the motivation to do anything it takes to actually make it occur. Keep working and keep your goals to yourself. It could spur you to work harder to meet them.
“After hitting on a brilliant new life plan, our first instinct is to tell someone” — but Derek Sivers says “it’s better to keep goals secret.” He presents research stretching as far back as the 1920s to show why people who talk about their ambitions may be less likely to achieve them. Check out his TED Talk and discover why keeping your mouth shut may actually help you accomplish your goals.
Most people don’t take into account how many mistakes account for success. For some there is the idea that if you fail it’s the end: The end of the world, the end of the opportunity, the end to your chances for success. In reality the opposite is true. Mistakes are good for you because mistakes provide the biggest opportunity for growth, learning and development.
Why Mistakes Can Be Good for You
The only complete mistake is the mistake from which we learn nothing. Jacob Braude
Of all the great scientific breakthroughs, inventions or discoveries, not one of them achieved success on the first attempt. In fact when Thomas Edison was ridiculed for his more than 200 failed attempts to create a light bulb, his response was not full of self-pity or anger. Instead in his defense, he simply stated that he’d learned more than 200 ways of how not to do it. For Thomas Edison every mistake was a learning opportunity. How many of us could do the same?
There is a tendency when we make mistakes to get mad at ourselves. We tell ourselves that we should have known better, been more careful or thought it through more. But in reality we will never know it all. Making mistakes is simply part of living. The bible tells us that much: “For we know in part……but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.” 1 Cor 13:9,10.
So if in this life it is a certain thing that we will never know it all, how can we expect to not make mistakes? Think about that for a minute. (more…)
The easiest thing to say is often the most complex thing to do.
No matter what you’re doing, there comes a time when you are going to want to take things up a notch. Many want to get to the next level but are clueless about what it takes. Again, the easiest thing to say is often the most complex thing to do.
Getting to the next level requires a plan, sacrifice, skill, mental toughness, & hard work. Getting to next level is not the only goal – staying there is the goal. Getting to the next and not staying there is like buying your dream home with no money left to furnish it. What do you have to do to take your game, your career, your product, or your life to the next level? Getting & staying on the next level hinges on knowing the answers to two questions:
Where do you want to go
How are you going to get there?
Like I said, The easiest thing to say is often the most complex thing to do.
It is not easy to accept that things haven’t worked out as planned.
So how do you deal with it? To start, it’s okay to take some time to deal with the disappointment. Whether we like to admit it or not we are all emotional beings. We all experience some despair when setbacks occur. That’s quite normal.
Take some time to reflect, even grieve so that you can move on. The important thing is that taking the time to deal with your emotions is the first step. And step implies that you are moving forward, not staying where you are.
The problem is that too often people get stuck in that emotional state. Instead of merely reflecting and then moving on they get stuck there. They stew over the fact that things haven’t worked out. They focus on what hasn’t happened, what has been lost instead of trying to move forward. When you get stuck here that’s when bitterness sets in. Bitterness is easy. It doesn’t require thought, movement or progress. It just requires you to sit and stew. (more…)
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