>Mission statement

>A mission statement is a really difficult thing to come up with. It requires you to capture your deepest drives and desires, and thats still not enough. you have to express them then. In other words, this is a document that will be a perennial work-in-progress since over time:

• I’ll change as a person, and
• I’ll (Hopefully) learn more about myself.

So I’ll just categorise my desires, and go from there.

Material needs

I want to be able to provide for my family (Current and future) so that they can live a life with a decent (Consistently improving) standard of living. I want my children to have to worry only about a subset of the things that I have had to. This is my definition of a progress in the standard of living.

Professional needs

I have always been interested in science-fiction. My favourite fictional universes are the Star Trek one and the Known Space one (By Larry Niven). Since being introduced to the Known Space universe, the Protectors are the characters that I would most like to be like. The characteristics of Protectors that I admire and would like to emulate are:

• Focus – They are extremely single-minded.
• Industrious – They work tirelessly toward their goals. They don’t stop to rest and relax. They just keep working. They are amazing project-managers; they seem to have a list of things that need to get done so that they can get to their goals, and they move from one to the other as they get finished. They don’t take any down-time. They are supremely productive.
• Quick to learn new things – Protectors are able to learn new subjects and fields quickly. They are able to process new information rapidly and to apply it effectively.
• Inventive – They are able to use what they learn not only to create gadgets that help them out, but also to learn new things. The example that comes to mind most often is the one where Protector Peace Corben (Man-Kzin Wars XI: War and Peace) creates a gadget that does regular cleaning tasks for her. The quote is “Technology doesn’t save time, it invests it”, and is something that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about ever since I read it. I want to be an inventor.

What this means for me

What actions do I take?

I have wasted the last 5 years of my life. I thought I was adding to my human capital and making myself a good prospective employee for employers. I was inaccurate.

Engineering

Now I’m thinking of getting an engineering degree. I looked into getting accounting designations, but that seemed illogical (See this.) A person from the university of Toronto sent me an e-mail (When I asked for similar statistics) stating that more than half of the applicants in their Professional Experience Year (PEY) thing get hired. Since, at the moment, that is the best (And only) employability statistic I have, I think I will go with UofT’s engineering department. I’ll do the normal first year, but I’m thinking I’ll just go into civil engineering. I’m interested in creating residences in far-out places (Like northern Canada, and underwater), and civil engineering seems to be the most applicable.

Also, I think engineering (As opposed to law or nursing) is a technical skill-and-knowledge-set that will help me learn how to make real things (In the physical and economic sense of the word “real”), and would help me become more like an inventor. More like a Protector.

Finally, I want to have an occupation that requires that I be a skilled worker. I’ve never had such a job. All the jobs I’ve had are as unskilled labour. I want to be more than just a set of muscles. I want to trade my knowledge and intellect and mind-power for money. Right now, all I’ve ever done is trade my time for money. Since we only have so much time in the world (And the day), I am limited. I don’t like that. I want more.

I want success, at all costs. Success as defined by my material (And maybe professional) needs.