What is Your Why?

My senior year of college, during my student teaching experience, I was required to develop my "mission statement" as an educator. I definitely planned to make a difference and touch lives, but my immediate mission was to "get a job, make more than minimum wage, and get summers off." Since that would have gotten the wrong kind of attention on a resume, I opted for something a little more professional sounding and kid-focused.

My educational mission in 1995 was "to help foster students' academic, social, and emotional growth." Thank you, Janice Montgomery, for helping me come up what that gem.

It's funny to look back on my mission, "my why," after a couple decades of teaching, because it's actually still true. It's a pretty simple but powerful statement. A few weeks ago, I shared my key life-guiding principles in A Peak Behind the Curtain. The first of those principles is to "live every day with purpose, direction, and intention." The list is pretty long and personal to me, but I also have a mission statement for my life that is pretty simple and straightforward.

My current life mission, my why, in 2018 is "to love, enjoy, inspire, encourage, and positively impact those within my circle of influence, and to grow my circle of influence." My life is definitely still under construction, but I'm enjoying the process of finding and living my why. And I would encourage you to do the same. I know you have a why. Think about it and write it down. Then live today with that why in mind.

Enjoy the day!