Writer: Dave Hargis
I’m on a Mission, and I’m not alone. Every professional, academic, hobbyist, athlete, parent, and nearly everyone on Earth has a mission, sometimes more than one. Some are self-serving, some serve others. Some are vast in scope – real save the world stuff – while others are smaller in scale, like saving up for that new video game, skis, or skateboard.
As professionals, mission matters. They define our purpose, direct us to our goals, and even test our resolve, when challenges spring up, and we try to take the easy way out. Some missions, and you can have more than one, are narrow; generate monthly revenue, build the barn, or clean the garage. Others are broad in scope and meant to encompass the rest. These are the missions I’m talking about. The ones that can shape your lives and futures.
My mission is to educate, serve, and inspire the students, faculty, and staff who contact my office in pursuit of their professional goals. My mission drives me. I’m passionate about it. I try my best to LIVE it, every day. I’m in my office on a Saturday, editing this article, because of it. My mission, however, is only one piece of an equation. For me to achieve my mission, I need to understand yours.
What’s your Mission? If you know the answer to that question, GREAT! Please share. Sometimes, however, there isn’t an answer, yet. Maybe I can help with that? Some of you may not think it’s important. You may not have thought about it at all. And yet, invariably, mission matters!
A basic, broad mission that may serve most students can go something like this; To Learn, Engage, and Grow as I work to achieve my academic, personal, and professional goals. This meshes well with most institutional missions. As we Educate, Serve, and Inspire, students should strive to Learn, Engage, and Grow. The equation can often flip, however. Sometimes students need to be the ones who educate, serve, and inspire faculty and staff. Informing us about their lives, goals, and challenges, so we can be the ones who learn, engage, and grow.
Missions can be powerful, if we let them. They can test us, and be used by us to test our values, goals, and actions. We can look at something we are planning or doing and say, “Does this fit our mission? Does it educate our students? Does it serve them? Does it inspire them?” Likewise, students can use their mission to check themselves. Examining, with the above suggestion, an action and asking yourself, “Am I learning? Have I been engaging with my coursework, project, instructor, and fellow students? Am I growing from this experience?” If not, find out why.
Use your mission to help shape your actions, goals, and academic outcomes to achieve success. Carry it forward to create a more fulfilling professional career and life.
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