What you may not know is that Mark Twain continued with his observation….

“New Year's is a harmless annual institution of no particular use to anybody, save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls, and humbug resolutions, and we wish you to enjoy it with a looseness suited to the greatness of the occasion.”

For those of you who arose to a new January 1st optimism and a sigh of relief that the decade has passed, I say “God bless you … you probably have a job.” For the rest of us, New Years was a good excuse to party like it was 1999 or, for the quieter of us, to go see Avatar. For a brief moment we spent a few hours (for some, a few days) ignoring the herd of elephants that plague our life. But soon, if not already, the realization will hit that all our concerns and distractions remained with us, hovering like so many specters of potential doom. I have chosen this moment to ask you one simple question: Have you forgotten what your mission was? If right now you are saying “What mission?” (And I fear that will be too many), it’s time to rediscover it.

Now let me take a moment to dispel, dear reader, that I am not referring to the consultant-developed, HR-approved, marketing-driven, leadership-ignored “Business Mission Statement” that all companies pretend to build their culture upon, only to discover that it was far too much effort and work; thereby eventually degrading to a mockery poster in some distant conference room. I am referring to your mission….

Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal phrased several good examples of institutions forgetting their mission, for example in her recent column. – “…the federal government, which whatever else it does, has a few very essential missions to perform that only it can perform…(lost) sight of the essentials, which is part of the reason underpants bombers wind up on airplanes.”

She spoke of a decade where our government, our businesses, our churches and even we have forgotten what our mission was. Whether it was for the banks to protect our investments, our churches to protect our children, or our government to protect us…each has taken their eye off the ball and so also did I. Have you?

Each of us has a mission within us. You know what it is. You should be able to put it into a single sentence. It may be “Get a job” or “Find the work you love” or “Get free.” It’s an active phrase that defines any action you should be doing every day. If we acknowledge that the distractions of 2009 remain with us in 2010, then we must understand that the only way that we can improve ourselves…the only way we can focus on our mission, the only you can take care of you (because no one else will) is to resolve that this year you must go gorilla.

 It is the guerilla warfare mentality, singularly focused on your mission that is going to be the survival tactic of this early decade. If your short term mission is to “Get a job,” then you must not be a passive spectator or weekend warrior. The getting the good jobs in 2010 will be a brutal fight and you must be ready for the battle. The mission of “Job Survival” will require skills that demonstrate your increasing value and performance to your employer. Whatever the mission, you must be focused, serious, and willing to push yourself through the challenges to come. There will be allies, like minded soldiers who will travel with you for a time. You may find a “band of brothers” which will make the struggle as rewarding as the goal. But you must never forget that, at the end of the day, it is YOUR mission for you to achieve. Today I commit to my mission.

My mission is to make JobCast Radio the voice of the “At-Willed!” The employee future, past, and active will receive my promise to provide for your mission: the tools to achieve, the tactical surveillance of where the minefields are being placed to stop you, honest and accurate reports on the battles we face, and communication that has meaning in “meaningless” situations. My 2010 articles, my radio show, and my website (jobcastradio.com) will be your outlet to report on the battlefront to finding, keeping, and succeeding in the job market. Today we go gorilla.