During a recent conversation with a young man I've been mentoring, he asked how I developed a sense of clarity and focus around life.

His perception was that I have a very strict set of rules that I refer to and follow on a daily basis, enabling me to say yes or no to new opportunities, ideas, experiences, or people along the way.

The reality, I explained, is a bit different:

I have a few core Missions that define my life—everything is aligned around them.

Based on the way his eyes lit up at my response, I realized this was a topic worth exploring further with all of you. So, in today's piece, I'd like to share more on the life-changing power of Missions...

Your Missions Define Your Life

Let's start with the basics: What are Missions?

Missions are life journeys with no specific end. Missions are not goals. Goals are finite—focused around discrete achievements, with specific ends that create their own problems. Missions are infinite games.

Missions serve as a True North for life.

You do not reach a Mission, you live out a Mission. Living out your Missions should contribute to you creating the way of life you desire (whereas achieving your goals may not).

Your daily approach or process may change, but your Missions rarely do. They are big, broad, and bold.

I have clearly defined a Mission within each of three categories:

1. Professional: To positively impact one billion lives, directly or indirectly.
2. Personal: To build a "house" full of love. Note that I place house in quotations because I define it broadly—my inner circle (wife, son), my family, my closest friends, and my extended network of loving, supportive relationships.
3. Health: To build and maintain my fitness and vitality to perform at an elite level relative to my age.

These Missions are my infinite games. They define my life.

My favorite line from the Bhagavad Gita refers to the importance of the individual nature of one's dharma (sacred duty):

"One’s own dharma performed imperfectly is better than another’s dharma well performed...It is better to strive in one’s own dharma than to succeed in the dharma of another."

I think of Missions in a similar vein:

Your Missions (and categories) are individual. There is nothing right or wrong about your Missions, they simply must be yours.

Navigating the Maze

Life is an endless maze of complexity. Every single day, you're faced with new opportunities, people, ideas, and actions.

It's easy to become disoriented, to leap at every shiny thing that comes your way, to give your energy to people who have no consideration for it, to toil away on actions that move you further from your ideal way of life.

The power of Missions is found in the clarity they provide:

• With any new or existing opportunity: Does this opportunity further one of my Missions? If not, you can say no to it.
• With any person in your life: Is this person contributing positively to one of my Missions? If not, you can limit the energy you give them.
• With any daily action: Is this action contributing positively to one of my missions? If not, you can avoid it.

Your Missions allow you to navigate the maze with the skill of an experienced traveler.

What Are Your Missions?

Clearly defining (and embarking on) your Missions is the key to unlocking new clarity, focus, and fulfillment in your life.

So, what are your Missions?

Define one Mission within each of my categories—Professional, Personal, Health—and add categories as necessary. They should be big, broad, and bold.

Remember: Missions are infinite, you will not reach a Mission.

With your Missions defined, it's time to embark on the journey:

• Who are the core people that are positively contributing to each Mission? Prioritize them. Cherish them.
• What are the core daily actions that are positively contributing to each Mission? Focus on them.
• What is detracting from my progress on my Missions? Slowly remove it.

The quality of your Missions determines the quality of your life.

Define your Missions, then live out your days pursuing them.