What is my life mission?
You may find yourself asking this very open and confusing question, amist your mid life crisis scenarios and recalling regrets about the past. As you answer the question, you may find yourself puzzled about where to even start. Instead of undertaking this mind numbing exercise, I implore you to consider this:
Compelling life missions don’t fall out of the sky. Great missions that really drive people are those expand the forefront of your field, called the knowledge frontier. They help others achieve something that they cannot already do.
So how can we achieve this result? I actually got lost trying to regurgitate and remunerate all the thoughts that allow me to come up with correct decisions. As we all do, don’t we?
You’re sitting at the cafe sipping your fifth chai latte wondering, no, daydreaming, with your mind hot potato-ing from one topic to the next staring at the blank piece of paper in front of you. I know that was how I felt. Which is why I created the 3 rules of coming up with a good mission for myself:
- A mission which will give me the autonomy to make decisions and create an impact for my customers or clients.
- The work should be complex enough that it challenges you every day. There should be a flow of new developments and ideas which help with developing my
- A mission should have a connection between effort and reward. There should be things that are in my control which allow me to improve myself, learn new skills and create the type of environment to help myself prosper.
Although I don’t have a set focus as of yet, here are the fields that I have been considering:
Cyber Security
A career in cyber would give me all 3 of the above rules. Eventually, after gathering some experience, I would have autonomy in my work. I could consult for different companies or develop new security solutions. This would be an amazing experience as it allows me to give back to the world on my own terms.
The cyber security field is also quite a challenging field. There are constantly new developments that are important to look at, and I can learn about these new developments to keep my interest peaking.
Finally, Cyber Security has an effort and reward cycle as well. The amount of effort I put into developing the knowledge and skills that I have, the more autonomy and the more challenging my career will be.
Making Software I Love
A career in software would be amazing. After gathering some experience, the amount of autonomy of either making software for my own company and products that I believe in, or creating software for another client, would be a fantastic experience.
The software field is again very challenging and constantly developing. Hence, there are always new roadblocks to learn from and improve on.
Finally, the connection between effort and reward here is apparent. The more I look to serve others with the products I create, the better I will become with making them, and the higher rewarded I will be. Impacting more people not only makes a higher valued person, it also increases their sense of fulfilment, which is exactly what I hope to achieve.
Conclusion
I hope you have some things to think about from the content above. Making the right life mission is a tough challenge. It requires a range of considerations, and time to think through future challenges, but I hope the three main rules, namely autonomy, challenge and a connection between effort and reward, help you to find the key to a successful career.
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