DALLE - a kid lost in the road with many paths, digital art

When we are kids, we play, do stupid stuff, and explore the world in which we are brought up in. We don't care about things around us, we just care about playing with our toys. We are naiive in our own little bubbles

At some point, we learn to deal with the authority of others, telling us what we can, and cannot do. We don't know why. Sometimes we ask lots of questions. Sometimes we don't get answers we want

But, at some point, a question will be asked of us. It is this:

"What do you want to be, when you grow up?"

You may have been asked this as a kid. Either from your parental figures, or from the elementary school you went to.

You had to stop, and ponder for a moment what sounds exciting to you. Maybe you wanted to be an astronaut. Or a social influencer on fornite. Or maybe, a writer, an artist, an actor

The world is really the limit here! Your wildest imagination is what you probably ended up choosing

Years later, you actually have to make a choice. You had to decide whether to go to college or not. You decided what major and school you go to, if you did go to college. Whether you pursued an MBA after college, or a masters, or just go straight to working.

Maybe you didn't have this choice offered to you.

And maybe, you have really had no idea what you are doing. You didn't have enough guidance, or life experience to really know what you will like or dislike in a career. You make your choices blind, hoping for the best.

Sometimes, you just simply default to the career choices your parents told you to do. "Be an engineer, be a lawyer, be a doctor". Maybe something in the field of STEM

Sometimes, you might even pursue a career such as this, only to realize you don't even like it. At some point, you realize you pursued something someone else prescribed you to do, and you wasted 8 years of your life in med school with 100k in debt

It happens. We don't always have the answer in hindsight. Sometimes we don't even know why we pursue the things we pursue. Sometimes we are so deep in the rabbithole, that committing all the way is the lesser of two evils - especially if we're afraid of the alternative and unknown.

Sometimes we don't want to uproot ourselves either, and throw away what feels like years of work down the drain.

Sometimes, we are afraid of losing it all. We're afraid of the social rejection that comes with it, the failure of other's expectations of us, and being nothing.

Sometimes we choose the easy way out. We stick to what we know, what we're good at, and don't change.

But there is always this lingering doubt - that you aren't sure if that is the actual path your meant to be.

You might find this out years later in life. When your 30. Or 40. And you have a mid life crisis, to realize that you want to break out of this cycle. This isn't even particular to careers, it could be other things like marriage

Maybe this isn't you. Maybe you have known all your life you were destined to be a lawyer, and you have no doubts about it. You are a rarity.

But for others, you find that you want to forge your own path. A path that less trotten. One where there is guidance, but there's too much or too little of it. Too many opinions of what you have to do, where you have to go, and how to get there.

Too many thought leaders telling you what the best solution is. Too many different thoughts about the fastest solution there

You don't even know for sure either due to your lack of experience, but you want to give it a shot

How do you move forward?

DALLE - cyberpunk mission briefing room

Make a mission statement

One powerful paradigm is creating a mission statement for yourself

It has to be short. And sweet. One sentence.

If you are for instance breaking into tech world, here are some examples that you can use:

"I want to be the best software engineer possible"

Everything you do, revolves around that mission statement. When you have doubts about where you are going, say the mission statement out loud

If you are trying to be the best software engineer, you have to ask yourself this next

"What does the best software engineer do everyday?"

You'll come up with a dozen different ideas. Learning everyday. Learning how to learn even faster. Coming up with ideas on how to expedite that learning, through finding mentors and communities. Expediting it even quicker, through hackathons. These will be goals, within that mission

Now let's say your mission is this instead:

"I want to have a lot of money"

In this same realm, you will just generate a ton of ideas. Overemployment. Developing skills that pay a lot of money, such as those in more obscure skillsets. Finding careers that have a fast foot in the door, with good salaries and options - such as cybersecurity. Real estate options, starting businesses with chatGPT, the list goes on. These are the goals that you create - the business objectives to get there

If your mission instead is

"I want to build the most entertaining content on youtube/web"

You'll have to ask yourself so many questions. What makes good content? How can I master video/audio editing, what is my video editing style. How can I produce something that I myself would watch? What type of content do I even want, and how do I determine that?

You can have a really generic mission statement, and make it more specifically later on

These mission statements provides you a set of standards of when you can say "no" - if it doesn't align with your goal.

This goal that you have - it is something you will do everyday. One day you might reach that goal, and if you do - realize you'll make alot of sacrifices along the way. Like skipping dating, or hanging out as much with friends because you don't time.

Even if you get there one day, you might realize this path wasn't for you. On the other end, you might realize it is something you love doing, and your ready to expand it even higher

reddit - running kid meme

Consider if you need an anti-mission statement

Mission statements are predominantly positive things you look forward to.

You can also have what I call anti-mission statements - to leave behind an old past. This in duality with a mission statement can make you do things well beyond what you think your actually capable of

These are some examples

"I will leave behind this job flipping burgers to do something amazing with my life"

or

"I will prove others wrong, that I am capable of doing greater things"

or

"I will not be broke anymore and worry about paycheck to paycheck"

These are more short-lived in nature, due to a particular circumstance you might be going through. At some point you won't need anti-mission statements because you'll be in a better place, and forged infrastructure to never deal with it again

But if you are in a tough spot, these are powerful sentences you can tell yourself. Especially when things seem bleak

Say it out loud. A lot. Make it ingrained into your system. It will be a powerful chant, one that leaves no doubt what you will be leaving behind in life.

However, you will at some point have to let go of these, as they will be a point of pride, and a sense of ego. And it will lead to self-sabotage if you don't get rid of them at some point.

starwars doublesaber staff

Double Edged Nature of mission/anti-mission statements

Do note, that having such a strong paradigm, whether positive or negative, is a double edge sword

What you gain in the short term you pay for in the long term. There will be lots of sacrifices you make along the way in pursuit of this goal, a lot of hustle and bustle

Once you reach this goal, and finish this mission statement, you will feel lost. Confused. You reached the destination, now what?

And that's okay for that to happen, that's normal. Just know about it before hand so it doesn't catch you blindsided

This is why when you ask a lot of adults in their 50s or 60s, their biggest regret is they work too hard - or didn't spend enough time with kids. They don't realize that the dream is here, you don't need to keep chasing it all the time

It's okay to just be content. To live a comfortable life. To not be the best, to not be the star NBA basketball player you've always desired to be.

You have to let some dreams die off. That's just reality

Closing thoughts

Don't be afraid to make mistakes, to f*ck up, to experiment - in pursuit of your goal within ethical limits

Learn to trust yourself first. Don't worry about what other people think - you know yourself best. Even if nobody believes in you - because you do! That's what really matters

However, it's important to also see the side of reason. Listen to what others say, consider whether it is a valid thought, and take criticism constructively.

You will achieve everything you set out to be, because you are your own accountability. You will adopt your own mentors, and will learn without boundaries, you will be your own inspiration

You chose this path of your own accord, you are embracing the change you want to be

You decided along time ago to tell life it can go f*ck itself, and you will be your own person

Because in the end, it's the journey, not the destination that matters