Your Mission and The Crooked Path
- jimhlifecoach
- Oct 30, 2024
- 19 min read
Updated: Jan 4
Those Who Stand For Nothing, Fall For Everything - Alexander Hamilton
I think of the word “culture”, and its meaning. What does it mean to you?
Back in 1986, for me, it brought to mind one’s ethnicity. Your family background or history. Where your ancestors originated from. Perhaps where you or your parents were born. Your roots. Where I live, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, there is an annual summer festival called Folklorama where the cultural and ethnic heritage of dozens of cultures that make Winnipeg their home is celebrated. This is highlighted through pavilions where food, dancing, and exhibits from each culture that take part are displayed. This all went through my mind when I thought about culture, back in the day.
By definition, culture is the shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that
characterize a group or society. It can encompass the ways of life, traditions, social norms, and practices passed down from generation to generation, shaping how individuals within that group interact with each other and interpret their world. Culture can include language, religion, cuisine, art, laws, technology, and social habits. Reflecting both tangible and intangible aspects of human experience. Culture can evolve over time and vary across different communities and geographic regions.
It was shortly after I took the position of Training Officer that culture took on a whole new meaning. The term culture would be used in an entirely different way. In a way that was unfamiliar to me. Senior management was starting to talk about the company’s culture, and how it needed to be changed. Something called Corporate Culture. And Training and Development would play a significant role in facilitating the change in the corporate culture.
Corporate culture refers to the shared values, beliefs, behaviors, and norms that characterize an organization and influence how its employees interact and work together. It can encompass the company's mission, vision, work environment, leadership style, ethics, expectations, and how decisions are made within the organization.
Do You See The Similarities Between Someone's Culture and Corporate Culture?
One thing that stands out with both is shared beliefs, values, customs or norms, and behaviors. Traditional culture encompasses the ways of life, traditions, social norms, and practices passed down from generation to generation, shaping how individuals within that group interact with each other and interpret their world. While corporate culture represents essentially the same thing, but only within the company. It reflects how employees interact and work together within that company. Traditional culture is where you came from and for many the environment in which you live. It follows that corporate culture is the environment in which you work.
Either way, I think it is fair to summarize that both involve things like what you believe, what you value, what you stand for, and how you work and interact together if you are a member of that group, culture, or that organization.
The period from the late 1980’s into the new millennial was a time where there were
continuous attempts to change the culture at Canada Post, and the company’s trainers, including myself, would play an important and ongoing role in programs supporting those attempts. So, it didn’t take long for culture to take on that entirely new meaning for me. There was a module in a course that I would co-facilitate shortly after taking the job that was called Corporate Culture. The overall course was oriented towards retail employees. It dealt with how they were to do their jobs and how they could make our customers feel special. There was a heavy emphasis on the customer. Not just external customers, but internal customers. Internal customers meaning the relationship between employees and the various departments within a company, and their ultimate effect on the external customer. How we work together matters. It ultimately affects the customer that purchases the company’s end products and services. In other words, the external customer.
There was an element of the company's culture in almost every program I instructed, facilitated, or took part in. Either formally or informally it would come up. Or the essence of it was there simply by having cross-sections of employees in the room together. They would bring their experiences, backgrounds and personalities with them, and it would add to the dynamic of whatever was being discussed or instructed.
It did not take long for me to connect the idea of culture to areas outside of the workplace. In particular to one’s family. A family's culture. It follows that a group of people who spend any time together within a family unit eventually develop a culture of their own. The culture within the family home. The set of shared values, beliefs, practices, and traditions that shape the daily life and interactions among family members. Just as within a company, I would start thinking of the culture within the family home. In particular my home. The home I grew up in, and my home at the time with my wife. I would think of the interactions between family members. Within my own family. Within my wife’s family. Within my marriage. And between our families. How our family culture affected things like communication styles, traditions, values and beliefs, roles and responsibilities, the emotional environment, conflict resolution, expectations, and social interactions.
The Conditions Within Our Families, and Our Experiences Within Our Family Culture, Shape Us
I would consider my family, her family, friend's families, and other families. I would consider the similarities, but especially the differences. And it brought new understanding to how the conditions within our families, and our experiences within our family culture shape us. How people really do see things differently based on their backgrounds and experiences. Those things largely rooted in the family culture that they were brought up in. Those things that chisel and shape the lens through which we see the world. Our family culture ultimately affects our own individual culture. Our own values, beliefs, our communication styles, our emotional stability, and ultimately how we step out into the world and interact with others and move forward on our paths. It helped me realize that two people can look at the same thing and see things differently, yet both be correct based on the lens that they are looking through. The lens that has been shaped by our experiences, our upbringing, and our culture.
This mindset shift would open up new realms of understanding for me as to why things were the way they were in many areas of my life, and why people were the way they were. This understanding would give me ideas to deal with situations I was facing and in finding paths forward. It opened me to new possibilities. It gave me hope.
Back at work, as part of culture change initiatives, I was introduced to authors such as
Tom Peters, who wrote books such as “In Search of Excellence”, and Ken Blanchard, who was known for “The One Minute Manager”. I would become even more familiar with benchmark companies such as the Disney Corporation who were renowned for their commitment to excellence in customer service and how they emphasized and instilled their values in their employees. It was the beginning of the era of Total Quality Management, and I would eventually be involved in quality initiatives and training.
Culture change was not just a Canada Post initiative. It was an industry-wide, economy-wide, and worldwide initiative. Virtually everyone was getting involved in similar changes. In the face of economic challenges at the time, the whole idea was to get employees involved. To tap into their ideas and innovation. To get buy-in. To get management and employees on the same page and moving in the same direction. To get everyone working together for the benefit of the company. The idea being that when the company benefits, everyone benefits. To have ideas flow from the bottom up, where the work is being done. As compared to having directives and decisions flow from the ivory tower. From the top down, where those people who were not necessarily in the know were making decisions that affected the front line, and ultimately the external customer. This was a whole new way of approaching things at Canada Post, as the Management and Labor relations had a history of being contentious. That was part of Canada Post's culture.
I would be involved in programs meant to support these changes. As an organizer, as an
administrator, as an instructor, as a facilitator, and as a participant. There would be lots of training going on. Training regarding communication skills, coaching skills, problem solving, project management, and team building, just to name a few. One of the major initiatives was sending groups of employees offsite in a retreat-like setting where there would be a discussion of what the company stands for, and what the company exists for. There would be a mixture of participants from all levels of the company. There would be frontline employees attending the same sessions as their bosses and sitting and interacting at the same tables as senior management. The ultimate goal would be to come up, at the end of the session, with consensus on a shared Mission and/or Vision Statement. These retreats would normally be led by outside consultants, as no one within the company really had the skills or experience to conduct such training. Also, third parties have the effect of being impartial and unbiased.
What is meant by a company’s mission? A company’s mission is its core purpose. It is what the organization does, for whom it does it, and the value the company provides. The intent of these sessions would be to come up with a mission statement, which would provide clarity regarding the organization’s purpose and focus. Putting something together in written form that would be agreed upon by all levels. Something that could be referred to as a guide for everyone in day-to-day decision-making. It helps not only employees, but all stakeholders, in understanding what the company stands for. It basically answers the questions, “Why are we here? Why do we exist?”. In essence, if you were an outsider and you knew nothing about the company, all you would have to do is read the company mission statement and that would tell you what you need to know.
Basically, a company mission statement defines what matters most to that company. And if integrated and implemented properly, all decisions made, and actions taken within the organization would reflect the essence of that statement. That is how the company and those who work within the company have agreed to govern themselves. That is how they work together for a common purpose. Essentially a mission statement defines the corporate culture. And as the company nourishes a culture that is focused on what everyone has deemed to be what matters most, the company will move towards its purpose and be successful. That is the theory.
Back to the discussion regarding purpose in our own lives as we follow our paths. What we really need as we move forward is to be certain of what matters most to us and use that as our frame of reference and the lens through which we look as we manage our own activities each day. As we manage our days based on what matters most in our own lives, imagine the difference that would make. Imagine the positive impact on your path. When you are certain of what matters most in your life, you can make all key decisions and face the challenges of the day based on those values that you have defined as being most important to you. You don’t react. You don’t cave or compromise. You make value-driven decisions. What you value, and what is important to you, is clear. You act with integrity. And that propels you forward.
But consider the challenge of doing this. Given the activity, challenges, stresses, problems, distractions, and conflicting priorities of a typical day, how can you act with integrity, consistent with what is most important to you? It is so easy to be driven off course.
But what if you put what matters most to you down in writing? Just like I was
describing how our company, and other companies, would get together to discuss what matters most to them and then write a company mission statement. What if you did the same thing for yourself? Write a personal mission statement where you define what matters most to you. Based on your values, your passions, the important people in your life, and your goals. Write it down. Refer to it at least once a day and as necessary, and in the midst of those challenging moments where you need clarity. You will have a guide for making decisions and staying aligned with what matters most to you.
In my book, Along the Crooked Path, I refer to The Write Path. I describe how writing helps you as you follow your path. It is one thing to think about it. It is one thing to have all the words and thoughts in your head. It is quite another thing to write it down. A personal mission statement focuses on your character. On how you want to present yourself and be in the world. It also will focus on what you want to do. What you want to accomplish, and how you want to be. Your values will be mirrored by your statement.
Benefits of Writing A Personal Mission Statement That Reflects What Matters Most To You
Leads to Clarity - When you write something down, you're forced to articulate your thoughts clearly and precisely. This process helps refine vague or abstract ideas, making them more concrete and easier to follow. I stated that writing is the process of thinking by hand. Writing empty’s your mind. It makes space for other things. By writing your mission statement down, it is there for you to refer to as required. You don’t have to question what it says, or what it is, because it is right there. There is no ambiguity. There is not only clarity. There is precision.
Provides a Tangible Reference – Writing your personal mission statement provides a physical, or digital, document that you can revisit as often as you like. Over time it is easy to lose focus or forget the finer details of your goals and values. Having it written ensures that you have a reliable point of reference. It is a valuable tool when it comes to goal setting. As you set goals, short-term or long-term, you can refer to your mission statement to ensure that your goals are consistent with, and flow from, what matters most to you. Frame it. Save it as a cover page or screensaver on your laptop, phone, or tablet. It is right there for easy reference.
Enables Control of the Narrative – Writing allows you to tell your story. It also allows you to change your story. Maybe your story was based on a false narrative. On things that weren’t important to you. On things that were untrue. On someone else’s narrative regarding you.
By writing down your mission statement, you are changing the narrative to your story. You can ensure that your story, moving forward, is based on what truly matters to you. You are no longer at the whim of not knowing, or someone else’s influence or opinions, because you have now written down and ingrained what matters most to you. Your mission statement creates a sense of ownership. Writing formalizes your intentions, making them more real and achievable. It is a commitment to yourself. Writing it down reinforces your mission statement. Referring to it reinforces it in your mind. And you will find you have to refer to it less and less. You internalize it and it becomes your way of automatically approaching and dealing with all of the issues and tasks in your life. It becomes etched in that internal hard drive of yours and becomes part of your DNA.
Leads to Self-Awareness – Writing your personal mission statement leads to self-reflection, evaluation, and evolution. You can revisit and revise your mission statement as required. Life evolves, and so may your mission. Having written versions of your statement helps you see how you have grown and can help you determine paths forward. You can see the connection between what matters most to you and what you are doing. Are you acting consistently with your mission? It allows for corrective action.
It is Impactful – There is something powerful about seeing your own thoughts on paper. The process of formulating your mission can be quite emotional, and putting those thoughts and words down on paper, and recalling the values behind them can be motivational. This is especially so as you consider the “why” behind your words during challenging times.
Provides Accountability and Allows for Evaluation – You can look back on decisions made and projects worked on over periods of time, and evaluate whether your activities and results were consistent with your mission. You can share your mission statement with others and have them hold you accountable to what you have written.
Provides Affirmation – Writing your mission statement can provide affirmation of your purpose, what you value, and what you believe. Seeing your words on paper can make these things more tangible and real. This reinforces your belief in yourself and your ability to live out your mission.
So Let It Be Written... So Let It Be Done - words spoken by Pharoah in the movie The Ten Commandments
Writing down your personal mission statement confirms your intentions, improves your focus, and enhances your commitment. It is a powerful way of making your mission doable and actionable and allows its integration into your daily life.
Your mission statement becomes your basis for making major and minor decisions in your daily life. The basis of making decisions in the midst of calm and chaos. In the midst of all manner of emotions. Your mission statement is your compass. It is your reality. It is your program for dealing with everything that you may encounter. It is your lens through which you see your world and your life.
Your mission statement is something that you can hold onto in the midst of an ever-changing environment. Things around you may change, but you have a consistent way of approaching those things. People may change. They may be emotional, uncertain, inconsistent, and fickle, but you can act with integrity because you know what is most important to you. You have done the work and everything that you encounter is viewed through the lens of your mission.
Many of the problems in society, in individuals lives, and in our own lives are caused by a
sense of emptiness, futility, apathy, and meaninglessness. People have no sense of mission. But with a sense of mission, your life has meaning. That is the rudder that steers your ship through the storms of life. With a sense of mission, you have the compass that can help you determine the best use of your time, capabilities, and passions as you move forward on your path.
Even as I was involved in all of this new information and activity, the idea of considering my own mission and writing down my own mission statement would not occur to me for at least another ten years. And by that time, in 1997, I was facing some critical life altering issues. I often wonder how different my path would have been if I had sat down and really thought about what mattered most to me earlier. What difference would there have been in my marriage, in my other relationships, in my career path, and in the way I spent my time.
As it would turn out, I chose to leave the training job within a year. It was my own decision. Despite all of the benefits the experience was giving me. Despite all the activity and people that resonated with me. I would go back to a similar position that I held before in Mail Operations Support to be involved again in the realignment of postal services in rural areas. I was not asked to come back. So why did I go back to a job that I admitted I wasn’t aligned with and was tired of? The best explanation that I can give is that I was not listening to the still small voice inside. I did not trust my intuition. I thought I knew better. I blinked. I did not act in alignment with what resonated with me. I had not defined what mattered most to me... My mission. I did not know my purpose. I was not allowing what was calling me to take root.
We are constantly at the crossroads of levelling up. And you will know this because you are constantly being asked what you want to walk towards, and what you want to walk away from. Along your path, you will continually be presented with similar situations and similar people. And we will meet them with similar behavior patterns of our own. It is at this point that you have the opportunity to make evolved decisions or fall back into old patterns. We are asked to move out of our comfort zones into places that are unknown. And the fact that they are unknown causes fear, insecurity, and maybe some anxiety about moving in that direction. But it is our responsibility to overcome that. Moving out of comfort into discomfort and into the unknown is how we grow, change, and evolve and move towards our higher self. If you feel like you are being tested, it is an opportunity. An opportunity to decide differently. An opportunity to break old patterns and embody the person that you want to be. The person that you are meant to be. When you are certain of what you really want, and you move towards that, don’t be surprised when you actually get it.
Apparently, I was not ready to level up. A situation arose that created uncertainty, and it caused me to make the decision to go back. But as it would turn out, I would not be finished with training. In fact, I was just getting started. I would spend over twenty years in my career involved in Training and Development. I would stay involved, even when I was in other positions. I would continually be drawn back to the Training function. Even when I was not in a training position per se, I had the mindset of a trainer. My mindset had been shifted from "Why is this happening to me?" to "What is this trying to teach me?". With so many things I would encounter, I would approach the task with views of... How can I break this process down? What are the steps? And, how can I teach this? I would become much more analytical, almost to a fault. Later in my career, many of my training colleagues and I would joke that once you are a trainer (or teacher), you are always a trainer. Just like the Hotel California... You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.
Every Person Above The Ordinary Has A Certain Mission That They Are Called To Fulfill - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
And the best explanation I can give for this is that I believe the calling on our lives is absolute. Our mission is divine. Given to us by a higher power, whom I believe is God, but you can call it what you like. Source... The Universe... Once it is given to us, we can’t give it back.
The purpose for our lives remains constant, even if we make mistakes or stray from our path. Our calling doesn’t expire or change because of failures or circumstances. I have come to believe that God’s plan for my life... and for your life... is permanent, and that God/Source/Universe will continue to work in our lives to fulfill that purpose regardless of any challenges faced. You are never too far off course. It is our task to discover what that purpose is and live and act with integrity consistent with it. And that gives me hope. My wish is that it gives you hope as well. Think of it. You are never too far off course. It is never too late to change your life around and fulfil what you were placed on this planet to be.
Not that my role as a Training Officer was my purpose in life. Our jobs and careers are rarely
our sole purpose in life. But they do serve as avenues through which we can fulfill our greater calling or purpose in life. Our jobs can help us discover, develop, and refine our unique skills, talents, and passions. They shape our character. They can help us serve others and make a positive impact on their lives. Training for me was the platform that would empower me to do these things and would prepare me for what lay ahead. It was not just my means of earning a living. It was an environment where I could develop, align, and serve. I know the twenty years I spent in the job was just a pit stop along my path, but it prepared me for everything else that I would encounter. So even when in I was in other positions, training would remain in the forefront of my mind, and opportunities would present themselves to me again in the future. Even after my role as trainer was finally done, the impact it had on me and my path remained and remains. What I had learned and how my experience shaped me continues to influence my path to this day.
Training was a platform that would contribute greatly to propelling me towards my purpose. What will propel you towards yours? It doesn’t have to be your job or career, but that would be nice. Why spend a third of your life or more doing something that isn’t worthwhile or benefitting you or others? In fact, for many of us, our jobs, or ways of making a living, are distracting us from our purpose. But it could be some other significant role in your life. I encourage you to consider the roles you have in your life. Your role as a parent, a son or daughter, a sibling, a friend, a coach, or a volunteer, a leader... These are all significant avenues through which you can move towards your true purpose in life.
Consider where you have been on your path. Consider where you are now. How different would your life have been if during a critical stage in your life, you acted on what mattered most to you? How different will it be now if you start basing your decisions on what matters most? What does it mean to you, and what does it look like to you to have a whole and fulfilling life?
I Don't Know How To Feel, But I Wanna Try. I Don't Know How To Feel, But Someday I Might - from What Was I Made For? - Billie Eilish
You can create a beautiful life for yourself. Being busy does not equal productivity or fulfillment. You are not worth more because your life is busy, stressful, or chaotic. When you slow down, think about, and prioritize what really matters in your life, you make space for those things that bring you joy and purpose. That is where your true happiness and fulfillment lies. Wholeness comes from within. And you can define that, and come to terms with that, by defining and writing your personal mission statement. That is one of the most important things that you can do. Your own personal written constitution.
It doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but you. You are the only one that it has to make sense to. Do things that light you up because once that spark inside is ignited, it is really hard to put out.
Consider how powerful it is to be intentional about your life. Everything stems from your intention. Intention affects everything, from what you eat, to where you work, to what your activities are. It affects who you spend time with, what your dreams are, and what your goals are. It is hard to get to where you want to go without being intentional. Being intentional allows us to focus our energy and actions toward our goals and desires. We can greatly increase our chances of achieving success and fulfillment by consciously directing our thoughts, emotions, and actions daily based on what matters most.
Being intentional is about making decisions and acting based on an internally consistent purpose. How we spend our time, what we prioritize, and what we think about are all reflections of our values. And we can be certain of our intentionality and purpose by writing and ingraining a personal mission statement representing what matters most.
When you allow your heart’s desire to surface and align you with your purpose, you will
notice that you will attract what you desire in life with much more ease. You need to get out of your own way. Stop settling. Stop falling back into old patterns. Getting out of your own way means recognizing that you are significant. You are important. You have a mission to accomplish, and that is discovering your purpose. And you access that mission by learning to love yourself. Understanding that you were created for a reason. You are not here by accident. You matter and you are important. You don’t just impact yourself. You impact everyone in your life. You impact their reality.
Your soul is calling you. If you feel there is something that you need to do for your soul’s purpose, then that is what you need to do. That typically means leaving your comfort zone, if your soul is calling you to do something different. Choosing that path may be scary, but you will meet the best people, and you will call in a whole new life for yourself. Your purpose really is not the thing that you do. It is the thing that happens in others when you do that thing. We all have unique talents and gifts that are needed in this world. It is how people feel when they are around you when you do that thing. That is your purpose. The end goal is how you make people feel through what you do.
When you are happy, you are doing exactly what your soul wants you to do and be doing. People feel that and are drawn to you. Your influence increases. They want more of you and what you radiate and what you stand for. They want to be around you. As you vibe, you attract your tribe. You become a transition person making a difference in your own life and the lives of others. You have this effect because of your authenticity. And you achieve authenticity by living your mission
And that is your mission.... If you choose to accept it... Now that you are back... On The Crooked Path.
Learning Opportunity Along the Crooked Path -
Try this exercise -
AfterNotes 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx2u5uUu3DE - It's My Life - Bon Jovi
AfterNotes 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc20p4Hvx8Q - In Search of Excellence
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