Life’s
Not A
Chore
n Sensei Luke Carruthers
F
or many people life is a chore, perhaps a struggle to make
ends meet. Work is something that has to be done to pay
the bills, and fun and leisure are things you do when you’re
not working. Similarly for many sportspeople, training is a chore,
something that has to be done to be able to maintain a certain level
of growth and competence. Does this sound like your life? Are you
too busy ‘earning a living’ to instead, design a life of fulfilment and
contribution? Are you so focused on winning that you’ve forgotten to
enjoy the process?
» Champion sportspeople, and elite performers in any field share a
different attitude to life, work, and their training. For champions, there
is no distinction between work and play, or between training and
competition. For champions, their life is their work: their daily training
is their Olympic performance or their Wimbledon final.
» Champions have learned how to find and live a ‘life mission’. I
think it’s important to understand that human beings, contrary to
the popular theories of biology, psychology and sociology, are not
just a result of genetics or past socialization processes. We are
not just a consequence of our past, but also, and perhaps even
more importantly, a pre-sequence of our future! While our past is
important – especially as our teacher – many of our behaviours,
feelings, values, beliefs and actions are also a consequence of an
impulse to actualise a future self into being. There is a call within us
all to become something more – without reference to the past.
» There is a dream within everyone, a sense of purpose, which
through pursuing enables us to realize our full potential and
experience true fulfilment and satisfaction in life. Sadly, few people
ever have the courage or wherewithal to seek out and live this inner
dream – they give up the search for their personal life mission in
favour of “making a living”. Champions in all walks of life are those
who have discovered that mission within themselves, and have found
a way or made, a way to bring it to reality.
There is no greater goal than to find a meaning for
your existence
It could be said that there is no greater goal than for an individual
to find a meaning for their existence – and in fact, people without a
strong sense of purpose or meaning in their life are often unhappy
and dissatisfied with their life - regardless of their status, power,
possessions or financial wealth.
» It has been proven that individuals who most frequently suffer
from depression, or other chronic physical or mental illnesses, are
those who have no meaningful purpose in their life – they have no
40 | SHIMBUN
strong reason to live and be healthy. On the flip side, take people like
Winston Churchill or Bob Hope, both lead unhealthy lives as chain
smokers and drinkers but both – due to a powerful reason to get up
each morning - lived well into their nineties
“Made up of your emotions, beliefs, attitudes,
values and actions, when everything you do,
feel and think are united in one direction, you
become a successful team within yourself.”
The same importance of personal meaning for existence was
found of POWs in concentration camps during World War 2, and
in Vietnam. Prisoners who did not have a strong sense of purpose
or mission for their lives, were not able to see past their current
incarceration lost their will to live, and quickly succumbed to
disease, mental illness, or suicide. In contrast, those who held to a
strong sense of purpose for their life withstood their circumstances
and made it back home to their loved ones. People who have
established a ‘life mission’ are those who become the greatest
achievers and contributors in society. They withstand the setbacks
and disappointments and carry on, learning from the past and being
pulled like a magnet towards their visioned future.
» A life mission could be defined as a “Big Picture” for your life.
An over-riding purpose that represents everything you are, and
believe in. A life mission unifies all your values, attitudes, beliefs and
behaviours, and lends a congruency and power to them because
everything you do and say is reference to that larger vision. There is
no internal conflict within you, because you know who you are, what
you believe in, and where you are going. Truly happy and fulfilled
people have an alignment with their life mission.
» This kind of inner congruency and purposeful direction lends you
an incredible personal power and emotional momentum, which is
in stark contrast to individuals who have internal indecision, lack of
direction, and internal conflict about how to behave. A useful analogy
is that of a team of dynamic people working together towards a
common goal, compared to a group of individuals bickering among
themselves and getting nowhere fast. You are essentially a team
– made up of your body, emotions, beliefs, attitudes, values and
actions. When everything you do, feel and think are united in one
direction, then you’re a team within yourself, and you’re able to
engage and harness the synergy of your whole self.