What’s Your Real Goal here?
Randy Frazee (in his book The Connecting Church) wrote the following:
“Whatever we measure is really our mission“
In other words, you might say that you are committed to being a cheerful parent who makes his/her children feel appreciated and safe in the world. And yet your measurement of how well things are going at your house is all about noise levels (keeping them low) or how high the kids marks are at school compared to your brother’s kids.
Alternatively, you might be a manager or religious leader who quotes your mission statement about “bringing out the full potential in people”. And yet your measurement systems are all about the number of new clients or attenders your staff/congregation brought in this month.
What you are measuring in actual terms will determine the actions you take, the actions you applaud and those you denegrate, the investment of your time and money and emotional energy. You may just be pouring those last three investments into something that doesn’t ultimately make you or others happy/successful…
So. What’s the mission you actually aspire to (rather than the one you default to)? How could you change your measurement systems and indicators to focus the organisation’s attention and efforts toward that mission?
I think you’re totally right, we all default into our lives instead of aspiring to something. We seem afraid to leave what we know and try something new even though we know it could make us happier. Its all abput risk and we’re afraid of that, especially if you have children.