"Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before." - Star Trek: The Next Generation Opening Dialog
Any fan of Star Trek will can easily recite to you the opening voice over that precedes every episode of Star Trek. In fact, even non-fans probably know it pretty well simply because of it's penetration into popular culture. It became so popular that at one point, NASA, the US space agency, wanted to adopt it as their own mission statement.
I want to focus on idea of having an opening dialog for your life every day. To do that, let's look at some of the aspects of the Star Trek opening dialog.
1) It is read aloud at the beginning of every episode.
Ok, technically in some episode formats this dialog happens after a lead in scene, but for the purposes of this discussion, it happens before anything else begins. The reason it's so easily remembered is because it's repeated over and over again in episode after episode. It's ingrained in the viewers mind so much that it becomes almost automatic.
Think back to when you were in grade school. The same idea applies to the Pledge of Allegiance. You may remember it: "I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all". Believe it or not, I just typed that from memory, which proves that it's still ingrained in my head. Every morning, we were renewing our oath to be loyal to our country, the good ole US of A. I recited this every school day for 12 years, meaning that I said it around 2000 times.
Now having been forced to recite it every day, the Pledge of Allegiance lost most of it's meaning and I bet most children don't even know the meaning of what they're saying. But if you look at it from the education system's perspective, it's a method to remind kids of where they live and where their loyalty lies.
Back to Star Trek, having it recited over and over every episode, reminds the viewer about why the Enterprise and it's crew exist. Which brings us to our next point.
2) It defines why the ship and crew exist.
There are three aspects to the mission of the Enterprise: 1) To explore strange new worlds 2) To seek out new life and new civilizations 3) To boldly go where no one has gone before. No matter what the specific mission that the Enterprise is performing, these are the overarching principles by which the crew will operate. Any decision or action must be in line with these objectives. This gives the crew a clear direction about their purpose in life.
I used to be involved in church and I can say that during that time, my purpose was to spread the word of God, and the love others. Anything that I did was oriented around those objectives. My job, my hobbies, and my relationships all centered on those.
Nowadays, after much self reflecting and discovery, I have set for myself other objectives around which my life is focused, which is basically to help others when I am able and to promote peace.
3) It only has three points and it's not terribly specific.
Some people have mottos, which are short phrases or pillars that they live by. Short statements are easy to remember and recall. The vagueness of mottos also means that they're able to be applied in many situations.
So, why make a personal opening dialog and why use it every day? It reminds you of what your purpose in life is or your guiding principles. It puts into perspective everything you do that day in relation to the greater purpose in your life, which will help you make decisions and deal with stressful situations. Reviewing it in the morning every day will make it a part of you, guiding your life and decisions.
When creating a dialog for yourself, keep it short and not too specific. Make it something that you believe in no matter how you feel, so take time to explore yourself and find your core values. This way, if you feel like you're having a rough week or just emotionally distraught, you can still stand by your values and live your life congruent to your beliefs.
Here's a few tips on how to remind yourself daily:
- Put a sticky note on your computer or bathroom or refrigerator or anywhere that you know you will see it each day.
- Use Google calendar to send yourself an email reminder every day
- Carry around an item or trinket that represents your beliefs so that whenever you see it or touch it, you will be reminded.
Final note: your purpose or mission or motto doesn't have to be permanent. Even the Star Trek dialog changed over time a little bit. Yours should change based on where you are in life and your constantly changing and growing outlook about how you want to live.
Remember, whatever you do, do it boldly :)
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