Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Gandhi's personal mission statement


Sometimes a personal slap upside the head comes in the most unexpected places.

After dabbling around the edges and not using my Franklin Planner to, well, plan, this morning I thought I'd review some of the instruction sections and get serious about using this little device that I spend 40-50 bucks a year on. There's more to using a planner than just keeping track of your appointments, doncha know.

My eyes had started glazing over -- prioritize, urgent/non-urgent, plan weekly, plan daily, yeah, yeah, yeah, and then I came across several examples of "personal mission statements." There, they included Mahatma Gandhi's "Resolution," which I recognized from deep in my long-ago memory. It's a thought that would well serve anyone who wants to do something useful with his/her life:

Let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day:

* I shall not fear anyone on Earth.

* I shall fear only God.

* I shall not bear ill will toward anyone.

* I shall not submit to injustice from anyone.

* I shall conquer untruth by truth.

* And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.


That's one darn complete personal mission statement, especially that last line, because if you set out to fearlessly stand for truth and refuse to submit to injustice while bearing no ill will toward anyone (which includes those who perpetrate injustice), you'd better steel yourself for it to hurt a little.

The time since I last encountered Gandhi's "Resolution" can be measured in decades. I'm going to use the wonder of modern technology, e.g., my handy-dandy computer printer, to ensure that I encounter these words on a daily basis. I see just the spot on my wall for it.

9 Comments:

Blogger Wally Conger said...

GREAT stuff! I must make a poster of that statement myself to plaster on my office wall.

BTW, Franklin Planner? ANOTHER thing we two share in common!! I've been using one for, oh, 16 years!!

10:21 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jesus Christ! Even He couldn't live up to that "Resolution." Do money changers in the temple ring a bell?

11:37 AM  
Blogger freeman said...

Yup, great stuff indeed. Have you checked out the website called What Would Gandhi Do? before? If you haven't, I recommend taking a trip over there one day.

BTW, what is a Franklin Planner?

9:31 PM  
Blogger B.W. Richardson said...

A Franklin Planner is a little planning system based on a concept that Benjamin Franklin came up with. You can find a complete description and sundry sales pitches at franklincovey.com.

And thanks for the Gandhi site! Fun reading.

9:18 AM  
Blogger David Miller said...

Wow, great post.

7:59 AM  
Blogger David Miller said...

Richardson, you talk about the mission statement. It is Gandhi's personal statement. Thanks for sharing this good post, I am waiting for your next post and share a resource for your checking http://www.mbastatementofpurpose.com/our-statement-of-purpose-mba-service/statement-of-purpose-for-business-management/

12:28 PM  
Blogger NAINA said...

I respect Gandhi's personal mission statement. I had read others tips from other blogger but you are the good on in my list. do you get any others thinks ? here is some for research http://www.graduateschoolpersonalstatement.net/our-services/letter-of-recommendation-for-graduate-school-writing-service/ .

4:38 AM  
Blogger Anonymous said...

Good site, Visits and excursions in understudy age have different importance in light-weight of the specific truth that http://www.residencypersonalstatement.biz/get-residency-personal-statement-help-from-experts/pediatrics-residency-personal-statement/ it offers the opportunity to comprehend past their multi day plan.

9:24 AM  
Anonymous good service said...

As a teacher i like to do this and i know it has more enjoy to build up career as well as. I hope we can learn more information about this education.

1:39 AM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home