As Francis Ford Coppola’s movie Apocalypse Now starts, Martin Sheen’s character as U.S. Army Captain Willard finds himself (reflecting on his past) in a numb, dream state just waiting in his hotel room. In his soliloquy he says: ‘I wanted a mission, and for my sins they gave me one.’

The remainder of the movie chronicled his acceptance and execution of that mission.

What I have discovered through the study of materials pointed out by my mentor Bob Proctor is that we all have a mission.

Now, that doesn’t mean that we are all clear as to what our mission is. In fact most people are not at all clear as to their mission.

The reason for this for many is that they simply have never sat down to think what it is that they feel that they have been put on this earth to accomplish.

For some they may have done this and have decided to give up.

I believe this second situation is much worse than the first.

See whereas those masses in the first blithely go forth with their lives in a state of “ignorance is bliss,” those in the second no longer share with them this ignorance.

That’s much more painful! In such a situation, they know that (a) either they are wasting their time because they are not in pursuit of a mission; or much worse (b) they have determined that their life is meaningless.

Unfortunately, these people often fail to identify the qualifier “their” and as a result believe that all life is meaningless.

And this is when things fall apart for not only them, but for any one else with whom they come in contact.

As a friend and co-worker of mine at the fairly recently closed “Camera Shop” just off the plaza in Santa Fe – the one that was right across from La Fonda just off of the plaza – once put it …

These folks have “rectopticitis.”

Rectopticitis? What’s that?

Oh, it’s a “shitty outlook on life.”

And anyone who like him and me who have had a spell of rectopticitis and have later recovered can tell you, this is a horrible disease which puts you on a horrible mission.

Now, that might not make much sense. What type of mission?

The mission in these cases usually is nested deep within the subconscious mind to make one’s own and everyone else’s life miserable.

You’ve seen these types of folks. They are the ones you try to avoid if you can and if you can’t move them along as quickly as possible so they don’t puke out their “crap” on you.

And because of their attitude, the only thing that they secure in life is more “shit!” This creates what Proctor’s mentor Earl Nightingale called “a doom-fulfilling cycle” – their mission.

Now, think of those though who have sat down – perhaps repeatedly for days, months, or even years – and sought to figure out what it is that they really love to do.

If these people come to that answer and then just decide to pursue whatever it is … and even (or often) only as a “passion project” in their spare time at first … they are on their way to a meaningful life.

Again from Nightingale: “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.”

To bottom line it: We all have missions which whether conscious or not we are working toward. So, instead of allowing our mission’s to default to a lowest form, take the time to spell your mission out. Get a clear picture of what it is that you want to achieve and leave as your legacy. Then, get on the path of it’s fulfillment.

I know this is much easier said than done. This is especially true for anyone who has fallen under a nihilistic spell of “rectopticitis.”

But it is necessary. Your life and the lives of others depend on it!!!