I stumbled on this when I started my secret projects. I called them missions.
I had a goal, for instance, to adopt. But the mission of announcing it publicly and then raising money for it turned that goal into a mission. It’s just language, but it makes a difference. It makes a difference in what it means. One is a plan or intention. The other is a set of steps, action, and it’s usually crunched into a shorter time frame.
When I was going to college, I set a goal to finish in three years total instead of four. My missions, though, lasted one semester each. I’d sign up for a ton of classes and do as well as I could. Just finish this one, I thought to myself. The goal was a good idea. The missions, though, kept me going.
So I’m learning to pursue more missions, to set them and accept them. I’m learning to start from goals but not stop there, to take the next step, to find missions within the goals to actually get moving.
Plus, goals sound kind of lame. Missions sound like Bourne, and make missionaries sound kind of cool.
