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Yes to this. I often counsel my younger friends to have a "mission". Then once that is completed, to find another one. In fact, one can have multiple missions r

Yes to this. I often counsel my younger friends to have a "mission". Then once that is completed, to find another one. In fact, one can have multiple missions running at the same time. It's rarely said that marriage, kids, job, degree, a house, car, and most physical things are not missions. And in fact, most of these things -- unless accompanied by a "why am i doing this" and attendant missions/goals do not lead to happiness. Marriage without goals = divorce. Kids without mission = abandonment. Money without a plan = poverty. Degree without a plan = debt/sadness. Relationship without a mission = break up. Programming without a mission = abandoned code.

andi999 6y ago
Since you explained what are not missions, can you give examples for missions?
- eric4smith 6y ago
  Sure, here are just a few. 1. Rearing children with the goal of making them read at 2 years old. Then with the goal of learning calculus at 10. Then others as they grow older. 2. Learning programming by writing a real system that actual people will use -- instead of code katas or reading programming books or attending a boot camp. 3. Marrying not only for love, but with the intention of building a business or farm together. 4. Buying a house, with the knowledge you will sell it or convert it into a rental in a certain number of years. Then repeat with another house. 5. Starting a social media account to cover a specific topic, instead of making random posts about anything (have you noticed the most successful accounts are about one topic??). 6. Taking a degree with the intention of using it in a specific way and knowing how much money you will make to pay off the loan and live a comfortable life. 7. Buying a "beater" car, because you want to hire a new offshore employee for a side project instead of making a high lease payment to the bank. The world is filled with the stories of people who do things purely on emotion and never had "missions" or a "why" they did the thing.
  - ooobit2 6y ago
    Alright. Because this personally applies for me, what about creating missions of past decisions made without missions? (This sounds naive, but I could use some insight.) For ex. I did my undergrad in IT Security. I did an MSDA. I ended up in professional sales. I don't know what to do with all this. I've been good at tackling hard subjects my entire life, but how do you craft a mission from a hodgepodge of difficult and unrelated skillsets?
    - pdubs1 6y ago
      Research -> Information -> Strategy. No one can build your strategy for you-- you'll want one suited for you, and no one knows you better than yourself. Although I am sure certain folks can help: Life Coaches, Counselors, Psychologists, etc. Find resources on: - Skills that BOTH interest you, and are economically in demand - Geographical areas where those skills have a competitive advantage and are in demand i.e. bureau of labor statistics [1] Visualize it: Wages and projected openings by occupation https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2019/article/wages-and-openings.htm?view_full https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2019/article/wages-and-ope... [2] Fastest growing occupations: 20 occupations with the highest percent change of employment between 2018-28. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/fastest-growing.htm https://www.bls.gov/ooh/fastest-growing.htm [3] You can find entire libraries of skills at sites like Lynda.com and Udemy.com I am an web app developer. No tech degree. How? Built my skills. And strategically: I am creative, interested in business & entrepreneurship, interested in freedom, technology, and building things. And, I want to make good income so I can support a community where I help people grow. Looking at those desires... it fits well with a Web App Developer career. Likewise, you need to determine: A. What do you want ("Goal". Not having a goal is like having a map without a destination: Going nowhere) B. What you're willing to get what you want ("How badly do you _want_ to reach your goal? Do you really _want_ it? Again-- how badly? Are you willing to take 6 months off from work to grow your own skillset, full time, via project-based work, in order to leapfrog yourself into a new career?) Just some ideas. It's not tough. Just ask a search engine the right questions. And know yourself. Go through trials, tribulations, challenges-- One doesn't get to know their self by living an easy, meandering life. We get to know our self and what we're capable of by going through significant challenges-- By testing ourselves.
CGamesPlay 6y ago
Maybe this is a bit semantic, because in general I agree with you, but: > It's rarely said that marriage, kids, job, degree, a house, car, and most physical things are not missions. No, they are missions. Anyone without them who wants them views each of these as a major milestone in their life. However, like you said, you need to find another mission after completing these. These things are kind of a like a "life plan starter pack", to give you a framework for what many people view as a set of good missions for your life. But many unhappy people who have these things have failed to continue to pursue missions after attaining them. I think this is why it's easy (but wrong) to say that they "aren't missions".
- mrslave 6y ago
  I remember an interview with a very wealthy person. While describing his young adulthood he mentioned having the goal of buying his first luxury watch (think $10k equivalent today). Now I don't like the if-you're-not-a-billionaire-then-your-entirely-incomplete subtext of motivation/self-improvement culture, but this man spoke honestly about having a goal to acquire something luxurious for himself, and the work ethic it instilled in his younger self. I suppose the point is there is a huge different between life goals (even material ones) and retail therapy. Getting married (as in, finding someone you want to marry and making it happen) is a mission. Perhaps becoming a parent is for many. Striving to be a good parent is definitely a mission.
- Aaargh20318 6y ago
  > These things are kind of a like a "life plan starter pack", to give you a framework for what many people view as a set of good missions for your life. For a lot of people this is the Standard Life Script, and they never even realise it's only one of many options. Then they get older and suddenly it hits them they've been living their life on autopilot with the sat-nav set to the factory default destination, and that's not where they want to be at all.
circlefavshape 6y ago
Your last paragraph is insane It is also untrue. I have no mission for my marriage, or my children. Neither did my parents, or my wife's parents, nor do my siblings. No divorce in that cohort, and no abandonment.
- Aeolun 6y ago
  If you want it to be a good marriage, and to make your partner happy, is that not a mission? Same goes for children. If you truly couldn’t care less about them then there’s no mission there, but most people do.
  - xpaqui 6y ago
    With this broad stroke breakfast also becomes a mission, if you want to have energy for the rest of the day. The false dichotomy also applies here, either you do it and it's great, or you don't and dine your failure.
jmchuster 6y ago
That sounds somewhat along the lines of Warren Buffet's 5/25 rule.
podgaj 6y ago
Have you ever heard of Wu Wei? Action-less action? You think you have control of your life, but you do not.

andi999 6y ago

Since you explained what are not missions, can you give examples for missions?

eric4smith 6y ago
Sure, here are just a few. 1. Rearing children with the goal of making them read at 2 years old. Then with the goal of learning calculus at 10. Then others as they grow older. 2. Learning programming by writing a real system that actual people will use -- instead of code katas or reading programming books or attending a boot camp. 3. Marrying not only for love, but with the intention of building a business or farm together. 4. Buying a house, with the knowledge you will sell it or convert it into a rental in a certain number of years. Then repeat with another house. 5. Starting a social media account to cover a specific topic, instead of making random posts about anything (have you noticed the most successful accounts are about one topic??). 6. Taking a degree with the intention of using it in a specific way and knowing how much money you will make to pay off the loan and live a comfortable life. 7. Buying a "beater" car, because you want to hire a new offshore employee for a side project instead of making a high lease payment to the bank. The world is filled with the stories of people who do things purely on emotion and never had "missions" or a "why" they did the thing.
- ooobit2 6y ago
  Alright. Because this personally applies for me, what about creating missions of past decisions made without missions? (This sounds naive, but I could use some insight.) For ex. I did my undergrad in IT Security. I did an MSDA. I ended up in professional sales. I don't know what to do with all this. I've been good at tackling hard subjects my entire life, but how do you craft a mission from a hodgepodge of difficult and unrelated skillsets?
  - pdubs1 6y ago
    Research -> Information -> Strategy. No one can build your strategy for you-- you'll want one suited for you, and no one knows you better than yourself. Although I am sure certain folks can help: Life Coaches, Counselors, Psychologists, etc. Find resources on: - Skills that BOTH interest you, and are economically in demand - Geographical areas where those skills have a competitive advantage and are in demand i.e. bureau of labor statistics [1] Visualize it: Wages and projected openings by occupation https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2019/article/wages-and-openings.htm?view_full https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2019/article/wages-and-ope... [2] Fastest growing occupations: 20 occupations with the highest percent change of employment between 2018-28. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/fastest-growing.htm https://www.bls.gov/ooh/fastest-growing.htm [3] You can find entire libraries of skills at sites like Lynda.com and Udemy.com I am an web app developer. No tech degree. How? Built my skills. And strategically: I am creative, interested in business & entrepreneurship, interested in freedom, technology, and building things. And, I want to make good income so I can support a community where I help people grow. Looking at those desires... it fits well with a Web App Developer career. Likewise, you need to determine: A. What do you want ("Goal". Not having a goal is like having a map without a destination: Going nowhere) B. What you're willing to get what you want ("How badly do you _want_ to reach your goal? Do you really _want_ it? Again-- how badly? Are you willing to take 6 months off from work to grow your own skillset, full time, via project-based work, in order to leapfrog yourself into a new career?) Just some ideas. It's not tough. Just ask a search engine the right questions. And know yourself. Go through trials, tribulations, challenges-- One doesn't get to know their self by living an easy, meandering life. We get to know our self and what we're capable of by going through significant challenges-- By testing ourselves.

CGamesPlay 6y ago

Maybe this is a bit semantic, because in general I agree with you, but: > It's rarely said that marriage, kids, job, degree, a house, car, and most physical things are not missions. No, they are missions. Anyone without them who wants them views each of these as a major milestone in their life. However, like you said, you need to find another mission after completing these. These things are kind of a like a "life plan starter pack", to give you a framework for what many people view as a set of good missions for your life. But many unhappy people who have these things have failed to continue to pursue missions after attaining them. I think this is why it's easy (but wrong) to say that they "aren't missions".

mrslave 6y ago
I remember an interview with a very wealthy person. While describing his young adulthood he mentioned having the goal of buying his first luxury watch (think $10k equivalent today). Now I don't like the if-you're-not-a-billionaire-then-your-entirely-incomplete subtext of motivation/self-improvement culture, but this man spoke honestly about having a goal to acquire something luxurious for himself, and the work ethic it instilled in his younger self. I suppose the point is there is a huge different between life goals (even material ones) and retail therapy. Getting married (as in, finding someone you want to marry and making it happen) is a mission. Perhaps becoming a parent is for many. Striving to be a good parent is definitely a mission.
Aaargh20318 6y ago
> These things are kind of a like a "life plan starter pack", to give you a framework for what many people view as a set of good missions for your life. For a lot of people this is the Standard Life Script, and they never even realise it's only one of many options. Then they get older and suddenly it hits them they've been living their life on autopilot with the sat-nav set to the factory default destination, and that's not where they want to be at all.

circlefavshape 6y ago

Your last paragraph is insane It is also untrue. I have no mission for my marriage, or my children. Neither did my parents, or my wife's parents, nor do my siblings. No divorce in that cohort, and no abandonment.

Aeolun 6y ago
If you want it to be a good marriage, and to make your partner happy, is that not a mission? Same goes for children. If you truly couldn’t care less about them then there’s no mission there, but most people do.
- xpaqui 6y ago
  With this broad stroke breakfast also becomes a mission, if you want to have energy for the rest of the day. The false dichotomy also applies here, either you do it and it's great, or you don't and dine your failure.

jmchuster 6y ago

That sounds somewhat along the lines of Warren Buffet's 5/25 rule.

podgaj 6y ago

Have you ever heard of Wu Wei? Action-less action? You think you have control of your life, but you do not.