My Mission

A Mission Statement is by its very nature a work in progress.

My Ironman Mission Statement:

I am an artist, and I use sport as one way to express my life.
I am a talented athlete. This means I expect more from myself than I do from my competitors.
I am one of the world's very good triathletes. This means I am capable of professional level performances in the swim, bike and run.
This means that mediocre performances bother me. This means that failures must be turned around as soon as I can.
I love to swim, I love to ride my bike, and I love to run. I can do all these things well, and when I do them, I inspire myself, sometimes I see I have inspired others along the way. That's a healthy flow and release of energy. That's something worthwhile and worth doing as well as I can.

I am The Inspiration

I am preparing for an Ironman event. This means I am consistent, I am disciplined, I am determined.
Each day I will build my body, making it more flexible, more powerful. Even if I am not perfect in my preparation or my ability on the day, I will complete an Ironman at the very least, and at the very most, I will complete it under 10 hours. For now I don't ask for any more or any less.

Each day I will guard against undisciplined thoughts, negativity. My mind is the custodian of my body.
An Ironman athlete needs to balance work and rest. Rest is as important as exercise, but a lot of time has to be invested in long hours on the road.
I am good enough to go to Hawaii.
I am focussed. I am balanced. I am not distracted.
I am doing what I love to do.
I have it in me to put in the hours, the sweat, the suffering, to get into the sort of condition that the Ironman deserves.

I am The Passion.

I am a hard worker.
I don't give up.
I persist.
I improve on the last performance.

I have the Iron in me.


I wonder to what extent that Mission Statement is a series of affirmations, as opposed to deeply held beliefs, and insights. Because that is what a Mission Statement is. It's not saying who I want to be. It says who I am. What I am doing. If I feel it doesn't work, that my conscience doesn't really detect that these are inner truths, cannot verify that the prerogatives work, I'll rewrite them.

It's also interesting to find the core, the centre, of my identity. When the Emperor (in the movie Gladiator) asked the Gladiator who he was, the response was:

My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

Who am I?