9/22/25: HOW TO FIND YOUR MISSION

Last week I left you with a little bit of a cliff hanger.  I told you about my mission and said I would reveal how I found mine.  It's amazing how ONE WORD literally changed my life.  It set off a course of thinking that put so much of my life into perspective.  One word in a leadership CD.  One word that took jumping into a network marketing business, putting myself out there in situations that made me uncomfortable, delving into motivational and leadership material and facing pushback from friends and family to find.  Sometimes you have to go through some pain to truly learn.

So after all of this build up, what was that one word?  You will initially be underwhelmed to know it was the word, "detect".  Wow, thank you Prof Greg for that incredible level of inspiration.  Hang on, I'm going to put it all into perspective now.  For years I had wanted to start my own business, and every single time in my life that I tried to figure out "what I wanted to do", people always told me that I needed to "determine" what I was good at.  I'm sure everyone reading this has heard that.  But while listening to a particular leadership CD, the speaker said that we shouldn't be trying to "determine" what we are good at, we should be trying to "detect" what we are good at.  He went on to explain this more, but that ever so slight change in thinking actually created a profound change in how I approached life.

See, when we try to "determine" what we are good at, we start trying to figure out things we THNK we would be good at.  But when we DETECT what we are good at, we go through the rolodex of experiences we have already had in life and simply write down the things we already know we enjoyed.   Once you have that list in front of you, the only challenge left is to figure out what mission in life can encompass alf those things that you truly enjoy.

Here is my list from what I remember:  1) I always enjoyed sports, 2) I loved wrestling, not so much for the sport itself, but from the fact that all eyes in the arena were on you and your opponent and there was no where to hide, you succeeded or failed in front of the world, 3) I loved my time in the Michigan Junior Chamber leading and teaching people, 4) I love public speaking, 5) I enjoy being in front of a crowd, 6) I wanted to do something that my family could be involved with, 7) I wanted to do something in life that would keep me active and healthy, 8) I always had the thought of being a school teacher.  At that point, my Venn diagram was a series of completely overlapping circles with "Jiu-Jitsu Gym" planted squarely in the middle.  It literally checked every single box of things that I found great joy in in my life.  I remember having a discussion with a friend before I even talked to my wife about this, and in my mind the business already existed.  I simply had to go through the steps to get there.

So if you are struggling to find purpose in life, I encourage you to find 1-2 hours of quiet time with a pen a paper.  Just write down all of things you have done in life that you have enjoyed.  Even if you don't know why you enjoyed it, write it down.  Don't bother with things you didn't enjoy.  Ssorry, those things will find their own way into whatever you do anyway.  It's not all roses and sunshine.  Look at your list.  Study it.  Given enough time I guarantee you there is something on this planet that people need, that you are going to be uniquely qualified to provide and that checks almost every box of things you like to do. If you pursue that mission, you will finally be in that most wonderful place where people say if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life.