Wear the “Blinkers”… Limit the Distractions… Be Mindful of Your Mission

Wear the “Blinkers”… Limit the Distractions… Be Mindful of Your Mission

By Ms. Eugene Martin

June 18, 2015

Having a Personal Mission Statement is really one way of achieving private victory (thanks to Stephen R. Covey's  7 Habits of Highly Effective People^®).  I have shared mine in various occasions with people I believe who might be “inspired” to make theirs, also. The Mission Statement, as I have observed, may evolve, depending on the opportunity at hand and the person’s level of maturity. In retrospect, this was my mission statement way back in the 90’s (during the early years of my career in the corporate setting):

My Personal Mission Statement by Eugene

To be remembered as –

A happy and lively person with a positive outlook and disposition…

With a life lived for others, unselfishly sharing my God-given talents.

Making use of the time wisely and putting things in order and nicely

Striving to be perfect (with God’s help);, Hoping and praying to be with Him in the end…

And when I joined the academe and was given the opportunity to expand influence, I had it revised and restructured by using mnemonics, (because I have to be prepared to avoid the trap of forgetfulness  J) and it has become my guide until now.

S.M.I.L.E. (personal mission of Eugene (2012)
S - Simplify life
M – Make time for family, friends and work
I – Initiate things that would make the lives of others better
L – Laughter is still the best medicine (having a positive outlook in life)
E – Empower others (Covey’s 8^th habit – find your voice and help others find theirs)

We can encounter a lot of camouflaged distractions, e.g., being in situations or acquiring things we thought beneficial in the achievement of our goals. Oh yes, we can be enticed and later would find ourselves rationalizing that we need to ‘sacrifice’ and that we are doing ‘this and that’ for our loved ones, where in fact, the activity is snatching the valuable time we have to spend with ourselves, our loved ones and “things of great importance” (from The Little Prince), and we just cannot say no, etc, etc., and then, the vicious cycle begins and continues….   That is quite disheartening, especially if we do not have someone who cares to remind us….  In addition, check the consistency of the mission of the organization and its administrators with yours.  There might be Person-Organization misfit. In this case, personal and career development will be hampered.  So, it is best to always be mindful of our mission to keep us always on track.