Eyes on the Prize

I read a really interesting little book over vacation called "The Dip", by Seth Godin, that talks about when to quit at something and when not to. The basic premise is that anything worth doing will have a long hard stretch in the middle, but that all the rewards are at the end, after that hard stretch. If you're going to quit when you get to that part, you shouldn't ever really have started. If you're going to start, you should see it through. In order to live like this, you have to know what you're pursuing and why, and be intentional about it.

I also went for a run while on vacation this past week in a spot where a long, straight section of sidewalk had been creatively laid out with a number of undulating curves. I realized (because I am a lazy runner) that if I kept my eyes on the very end of the long stretch that I could actually run less distance by running a straight line without taking any of the curves. Anytime I found myself looking off to the side, or nearer than the far end, I ended up running the curves, and taking a longer route.

All of this made me reflect that I get unbelievably caught up in my work, to the point where it pushes everything else in life out. I end up running the curves, and not really focusing on the goal. Furthermore, I'm not always running after the right goals. While I'm a believer in the products I work on, and I love building them, I *know* that they in and of themselves are not my life's purpose. What am I really trying to achieve, and why?

I went to a wedding yesterday of a couple of friends, Melanie Chan and Greg Jimmerson, and it was a fantastic ceremony. It was a fairly non-standard ceremony in many respects, but one of the most meaningful I've been to in a while. One of the things that really struck me was how intentional both Melanie and Greg were not only in their relationship, but how intentional they both were and are in the *purpose* of their lives individually, and now together. They went so far as to write up a family mission statement that they printed in the bulletin. Their mission is:

To bring glory to God
By reflecting the love and truth
Of Jesus Christ
To each other and the world

Freakin' awesome. I want my life to reflect the glory of God, and to share with others what Jesus freely gave. *THAT* is what I want to be my life's goal.

But how does that fit with my day to day life, which is manic? I want to build great products. I want to "win" at whatever I'm doing in the corporate world. I want to be CEO of a major corporation someday. And I'm willing to work my ass off to accomplish those goals. But while I may have those as personal goals, those are not the goals that I want to dictate my life or what I do. I want them to fit into a bigger picture, not the other way around, and to be subject to change by God's hands. The prize I am going for is bigger and more important than any of those. It's a long term goal, and one I want to be pursuing intentionally.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." - Hebrews 12:1

"I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize." - Hebrews 9:23-24

I love the idea of having a life mission statement. A good mission statement in the corporate world is something that is both aspirational, but also something that you can measure or gauge any new efforts against, to see if they really line up with what you are working towards. If they don't line up, don't do them. Soph and I are going to come up with our own mission statement, and we'll probably use Melanie and Greg's as a starting point.