My Personal Mission Statement

Last week I started to write a personal mission statement. Actually, everyone should write a personal mission statement. Lately, the following books have prompted me to be even more self reflective than I already am.

Personally I had never tried to write a mission statement before but I’ve always wanted to. I am a very goal oriented person. In fact, if you were to ask me, I could show you my periodic and annual goals going way back, the metrics I used to track those goals, and how successful I was at accomplishing them. It is amazing to see how much I have achieved just by simply setting goals and focusing my energy.

What I am missing is the over-arching goal, my life’s mission and purpose. Do I have a core purpose from which all my efforts in life are working to accomplish? Such direction would help me stay on track and focused by aligning my various goals and desires with my larger life mission.

It is interesting to me that organizations of all types and sizes spend enormous amounts of money, time, and energy understanding their purpose and mission in the world. I wonder if people spend enough time determining and achieving their mission.

This exercise could take weeks, months, or even years to complete. However, even after it is finished it will remain a living document that will change as I better understand what I want to achieve in life and who I want to become.

Do you have a personal mission statement? How has it helped you?

Don't be a slave to your inbox

This was an efficiency tip of the week in a publication I read...

Don't be a slave to your inbox
1) Step away in the a.m. "Establish your day's top priorities" before ever opening your inbox. Begin with creative or urgent work first, mail second.

2) Give it time. Don't leap to answer every time you hear a new e-mail arrive. "Better yet, turn off the alert sound." If you must check your inbox regularly, choose as long an interval as possible - try 2 two hours.

3) Wait to respond, especially to mass e-mails. Ask yourself, "Does everybody really need to weigh in?" Often, interoffice e-mails "generate more work for everyone."

4) Single-task. To avoid mistakes, give your full attention to incoming and outgoing messages. "Don't email while doing something else."

5) Lie about your whereabouts. E-mail systems allow you to "create an outgoing message that says you're out of the office." You can also use it what you're in the office and just "need an e-mail break."

Source: O magazine --> then re-published in THE WEEK dated November 7, 2008.

Early History of the Internet

Interesting early history of the Internet. (~7 minutes)


History of the Internet from PICOL on Vimeo.

4 Main Reasons 2 Hold Mtgs-GIDG podcast

*Share Info(bad reason)
*Decision Making
*Team Building
*Brainstorming

Test

Posting on my blog using my BlackBerry (text message-SMS). Crazy COOL!

Stats

Did you know?

Four Worthy Goals to Strive For...

Dr. Albert Schweitzer was a great philanthropist and devout Christian who left the comforts of affluence to live out his life in Africa. There he provided medical as well as spiritual direction to the poorest people in the world. The only time he returned home was to raise money for medicine to take back to the Africa. At some point he listed the four things that he most wanted to perfect in his life. They seem worthy goals for everyone.

"I have four things to learn in life: to think clearly without hurry or confusion; to love everybody sincerely; to act in everything with the highest motives; to trust in God unhesitatingly."

Work from the Inside --> Out

I enjoyed this (~10 min.) video given by Seth Godin. I thought I'd share. I think its an important concept to work from the inside out. Some other really good principles are taught in this as well.

Blogging about Blogging

My blog sits dormant more often than I would like. People use blogs for many different purposes. I wanted my blog to be a repository of information, quotes, articles, thoughts, ideas, and more. I collect tons of information all the time but I am still trying to find the most efficient way to share it.

I wish I could have a mini-RSS feed or embed a widget into this site that automatically updated new things I am reading and learning across the web. I tag a ton of articles, blog posts, and random websites using Delicious, ReFrame It, & Google Reader. I even add commentary and save for my own personal future reference. If anyone knows how to do this please share. In the mean time, look me up on those sites. I think they will show you the stuff I am tagging, flagging, & commenting about.

I will try and do a better job of posting here too. It is on my ridiculously long list of goals. Those of you who know me well - the RIDICULOUSLY part is for real!

UPDATE: I found a Delicious widget that is now located on the left column of my blog. If you subscribe to Reframe It you will be able to see any comments that I make inside of the articles.

UPDATE 2: Thanks Shannon for the suggestion. Brilliant. Hopefully in the near future I can create a bar graph, or a pie chart, or a line graph... Sounds crazy but it also just might do the trick. (HAHAHA)

Age: Not a Significant Factor

Age 36, Albert Einstein completes his General Theory of Relativity (1915)
Age 41, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue that discovered North America (1492)
Age 51, Ronald Regan becomes a Republican (1962)
Age 53, Walt Disney opens a theme park in California (1955)
Age 72, Albert Einstein takes fun picture by sticking his tongue out on his birthday (1951)
This is just a short list of some things I'd like to refer back to throughout my life. Age should not be a significant factor when considering change, learning, risk takings, etc. I got this information from 03 October 2008 article out of the The Week magazine which highlighted excerpts from Eric Hanson's book titled, The Book of Ages. The article Life by the Numbers (pg 44 - 45) had roughly 50 examples out of Mr. Hanson's book that I really enjoyed.

Its never to late to try something new, be yourself, change, challenge yourself, follow your heart, and the list goes on and on... Age should not be a limiting factor. I think that we limit ourselves from being and doing better. One common excuse we can easily fall back on is "I'll too old for that" or "Maybe if I was your age" or "If I could be young again". Age is just one of many excuses. STOP Listening and go DO something great!