Now is the time to dust off those New Year’s Resolutions (unless you constantly have them in front of you) and reassess where you are in terms of your overall sense of purpose and mission, especially how it relates to your business.
I believe each of us has a mission to accomplish in life, and we’re not basically “done” until we fulfill that mission to the best of our abilities.
In my case, I have always felt called to a position of service at the intersection of technology and communication, and my web development work is my own personal path for connecting with others, particularly women, who strive for success through building their own business.
For you, what is your own personal mission statement?
How does starting, growing, or running a business, or developing your own work style, “fit in” with that statement? In my own experience, when you have a clear focus in regards to your overall purpose in life, the work you do also feels very purposeful. If you feel “connected” between what you believe your mission in life is and what you actually *do* for 8-16 hours a day, you’ll understand what I mean.
When your Life Work aligns with your Working Life
My belief is that we each have a choice to understand our own mission on the planet, identify it and clarify it as much as we can, and then act on it. None of us has all the answers, but when we move closer and closer to what feels right to us, I think that the work we start to do becomes more closely aligned with our natural skills and talents. Because each of us is unique, I do think there is a unique pathway for each of us that incorporates the values we believe and the activities in which we like to engage.
The prioritizing grid is an excellent way to find out what this is for you. Richard Nelson Bolles introduces this technique in “What Color is Your Parachute?”
link
Use this tool to find out which items within a set are most important to you.
As you develop your results, you get a better sense of what you need to do to feel useful, and what is more of a lower prioritiy.
(here’s a sample from around the time when I first started up as a field member using technology for educational purposes)
What is your personal mission statement? If you’re still working on one, or just thinking about it for now, consider what would mean the most to you if you were to be remembered for it, 200 years into the future.
Monica S Flores
Monica S. Flores leads large-scale web development projects in refactoring, redesign/redevelopment, digital platform buildout, & new product launches. She works with US-based & international associations, non-profits, public agencies, & startups on how to reach their communities online. Her focus is to build community, foster connectedness, & use her technology & management skills to make a better world. She believes each of us has an ability/obligation to use our knowledge, ideas, & talents to advance fairness, justice, safety, health, sustainability, & wellbeing. Find her books at Amazon or connect with her on LinkedIn.
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