Mission

I remember a late spring morning when I had finished my early tasks and had about an hour to spare before my first client meeting. It was such a lovely day, I decided to take a hot cup of tea and the latest book I was reading and enjoy both on the back deck. As I settled into my reading, I became distracted by the sounds coming from the park across the street. I looked up and began observing a group of young preschoolers who were thoroughly engrossed in the business of playground discovery. As I watched them, I couldn’t help myself but smile and wonder what drove their excitement. I noticed that they would run from one piece of equipment to another as if the playthings might disappear suddenly without warning. There was one youngster who would constantly call out to another to come try this or play with that. He was obviously leading the charge to see how many items he could enjoy before his playmates joined him.

Then there was a cheery young girl that couldn’t seem to stop laughing as her mother pushed her on the swing, higher and higher. A bubbly pair of what appeared to me to be twins were racing around the slide, quickly climbing the ladder, and screaming with joy as they slid down the other side. I also observed a quiet toddler content on rocking on the spring-action horse at the edge of the playground. Even as other children would try and coax him to join them in climbing the wall of the fort or running across the swinging bridge, he would simply ignore them, continuing to rock back and forth in a steady rhythm.

It was a delightful sight to see the carefree youth focus on having the time of their lives. As I observed this enjoyable view, it came to me that these children were all moving with a mission. They understood, inherently, that they were there to explore, discover, share, motivate, encourage, and accomplish as much joy, happiness, and love of their situation as possible. They moved with intensity and determination because they also knew their experience would end abruptly when Mom announced, “Time to go!”

When was the last time you came to work with this kind of intensity and determination? What drives you or what hinders your drive for such passion? Isn’t it about time you took time out to get that passion back?