This… “each of us has opportunities to meet the right people, start the right conversation, have the right relationship for a great life. You don’t have to wait for connections to happen. You can make them happen!”..

Is so true of course. We do make it happen, if we choose to.

And service, yes that does set us free and rejeuvenates our very soul.

THANK YOU for posting this objective list. Actually, it explains how I have come around to making all of my mistakes: I have gone on business ventures with the primary goal of serving… Huge mistake, the business underperformed dismally because my priorities were wrong. Yes, service is important, but you cannot give what you do not have. You must run the business as a business first, and then see how you can accommodate service. Doing it backwards prevents anything for working well.

I have focused on work and not worried about my body… Not good. If you are not healthy, you cannot do anything.

Examples abound just from my own experiences. I’m sure it is the same for other people reading this.

Anyway, just wanted to say “thanks.” You put into words some extremely important points.

I disagree with the “gun to my head” arguments… Of course there are situations where there are exceptions. I see these as general guidelines. If we follow these the vast majority of the time, we will have a happy life.

Thanks.

@Rick, under the extreme circumstances you describe, I’m with you, and thank you for it!

To clarify, when I was writing this, I intended it to be about designing a life without the gun pointed at your head. I too can think of circumstances under which I’d willingly risk or even sacrifice my life. And it doesn’t have to involve any conscious thought, if your sense of service is strong, you’ll be moved to such action automatically. Just two weeks ago, in fact, I put safety and health aside to stop someone from backing a van into my wife, who was on her bike and in real danger. Two days later, grabbed and held an angry escaped cat whose teeth were embedded in my arm, in order to save my father from the pain of living without that cat.

Your comments got me thinking deeper about these missions. When i wrote the article, I wasn’t thinking about them in a linear way, though they did seem to unfold in the pattern I offered. But it occurs to me that their priority also depends on where we are in the timeline of our lives (assuming a normal life span.) Survival comes first, and may come around again a few times, if you’re in the military in harm’s way or struggling to survive economically, or in the presence of a significant health challenge. You learn to take care of yourself in young adulthood, then may need to relearn how to do this if the original pattern you designed fails to maintain you. Then in your twenties through fifties, it’s possible that creating something out of the uniqueness of who you are becomes your prime directive. Creative contribution has driven me during these years. As you age and become an elder in your community, the more important your connections become, and finally, in retirement, finding a way to serve could become fundamental to your mental and emotional health.

Yet in every stage, I believe the person seeking the best design for their life will find these missions mix and mingle, informing, engaging and challenging us as human beings along the way.

A final note. Many of us spend a great deal of time in front of our computers, working with technology, spending hours each day in the realm of mental activity. These are all isolating activities. Don’t know about you, but the importance of connection has grown in my life over the last few years. As a road warrior, writer and thinker, I allowed myself to become a bit of an introvert for too many years. No more. I’ve redesigned my life to have more people in it now, and it’s truly a blessing. I say yes to gathering with friends at every opportunity, even when I think I don’t feel like it. And where once I might have gone it alone, I now see the absolute necessity of having a strong network of support for everything I do, and being a part of the network of support in others lives gives me numerous opportunities to create and serve.

Keep em’ coming!
Best wishes,
Rick

Create something is my favorite out of all the missions. When we create something to make the world a happier, smarter or more compassionate place, we are allowing ourselves to maximize our talents. That’s a life that filled with joy.

Seems like an exciting journey for me .