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January 2007 Issue
Discover your "why"
by Jennifer Shike
You must be a little bit country if you think it’s fun to drive down a dirt road.
I can’t remember how many times we piled into grandpa’s old brown truck when I was a kid to “take a drive” down the old dirt road to check the cattle, look for deer and make sure the timber was in order.
The older I get, the more I appreciate the memories I made in my grandparents’ timber – riding my pony, searching for leaves for my school leaf collection, learning how to drive and skipping rocks in the stream.
Recently, my parents purchased my grandparents’ farm – fulfilling my father’s lifelong dream. The farm has been a part of our family for nearly 100 years. Originally purchased by my great-grandfather, it’s where my grandmother grew up and raised her family, too. My siblings and I spent much of our childhood at the farm as well.
My dad is an outdoorsman and loves spending time in the timber. That, combined with the history behind the farm, makes it easy to see why this farm means so much to him.
However, purchasing this farm has not been easy. It required a lot of hard work, money and sleepless nights – it still does! But it has been my Dad’s purpose – to preserve this bit of history for our family for generations to come.
When you consistently channel time and energy toward your purpose, you realize your full potential in life.
I love how author John Maxwell put it, “The two greatest days in a person’s life are the day they are born and the day they discover why.”
Isn’t it a great feeling to know your purpose? We can’t reach our peak performance in life without a peak purpose.
Purpose is the foundation of everything we do. By understanding our purpose, we can better focus our energy, passion and commitments to make our lives more efficient and meaningful.
Just as my dad funneled his time and energy into preserving the heritage of our family farm, we all do the same with our purposes in life.
Within our organization, we have many breeders whose purposes lie in creating better purebred genetics and continually improving their herds for the future of the swine industry. It’s easy to name these breeders because it shows by the way they run their operations and live their lives.
We are fortunate to have NJSA members who define their purpose as helping lead our association, and they continually find ways to better our shows and activities. They are sacrificial and give of their time and resources to make our organization a success.
Even the NJSA has a purpose. Our purpose has been and always will be to provide a network uniting purebred swine enthusiasts through a youth organization that offers competitive opportunities to reward excellence, enhance educational opportunities, promote the value of pure genetic lines, and develop leadership skills at both the state and national level.
I strongly believe that when the NJSA is accomplishing its purpose, it shows. Our events continue to run best when we focus on all aspects of our purpose – rewarding youth for their talents, creating greater educational opportunities at our shows, promoting purebred hogs and developing young leaders. If we get too focused on one of these aspects alone, we will lose sight of what our overarching purpose as an organization needs to be.
What’s your purpose? What are you channeling your energy into this year? People who know their purpose use their time wisely in life on activities that advance it.
It’s easy to get involved in so many things that you lose sight of your true purpose. Don’t be afraid to say “no” to things that steer you away from it. Instead, focus on what matters the most to you in 2007.
Determine your purpose and see what happens when you discover your “why.”
