Three Ways to Use Our Crucible Hacks to Build a Life of Significance

Three Ways to Use Our Crucible Hacks
to Build a Life of Significance

Gary Schneeberger

September 28, 2023

Earlier this month we wrapped up our special 10-part summer series, CRUCIBLE HACKS. Over its nine episodes we offered listeners “hacks” to help them identify the building blocks of their lives of significance. Then, in the tenth and final episode, we helped them get the most out of the hacks we discussed so they could get themselves on, and keep themselves on, the path to their own unique life of significance.

We offered up three tips — a trio of best practices, really — that will help those who joined us for the whole series leverage the information they gleaned to make it all happen, as Warwick likes to say. Even if you haven’t yet listened to each episode in the series, these actions can be a great help to you as you press ahead toward putting the vision you’ve crafted for your life into a reality that can make that life one lived on purpose, dedicated to serving others.

So, give these three tips a try:

1. Write your mission statement or purpose paragraph. 

Take everything you’ve learned about yourself, how you’re wired, what you’re passionate about, what you’re good at, and craft a statement that will propel you forward as you live your life. It’s similar to what companies do all the time — declare what they stand for, what they believe in, and how they serve their customer. This is the same kind of thing.

Here’s mine, to give you a little guidance as to the format of how your unique mission statement might look:

“I am a disciple of Christ who learns from and leans into Him as a husband, stepfather, communicator, mentor, and friend, unearthing innovative ways to help those I love and serve find and unleash their unique voices to impact individuals and the culture.”

Remember, the goal here is to get it down on paper — whether actual or virtual. Identify the sum total of not only what drives you and will make the world a better place, but position it as a declarative statement of what you are about at your core and how, using that knowledge, you see yourself putting it into action for the betterment of others. Keep it near your working area so you can refer to it whenever you need a shot of inspiration to help you stay the course as you pursue your life of significance.

2. Tune up your mindset. 

Crucibles are not usually a one-and-done experience for us. Roadblocks, setbacks, failures can hit us at any time — it’s one of life’s immutable laws. One way to be able to ride out those storms is to focus on our mindsets. And one of the most effective ways to do this, as we’re taking that next right step in making our vision a reality, is to shed the worry about what might go wrong and instead flip the script to ponder this important question: “What would it look like if things went right?”

Fear is the great upsetter of apple carts as we pursue our unique lives of significance. We have to train our minds and hearts to ask this more positive “what if?” question, because it has the power to propel us forward, not worry us into looking backward. A 2020 study published in the National Library of Medicine found that our worries about worst-case scenarios don’t come to pass 91.9 percent of the time. Translation: What makes you uneasy about the unknown doesn’t come to pass more than 9 times out of 10. Internalize that truth and rewire your mindset.

3. You have more than one shot at making your vision a reality. 

There’s a word we’ve used often on the Beyond the Crucible podcast — we even did an entire series on this trait a while ago — resilience. It’s the secret sauce that keeps roadblocks from becoming permanent. We have an entire worksheet from our Discover Your Second-Act Significance e-course with six great questions that will help you build up your resilience as you pursue your life of significance.

Combined with what you learned about yourself throughout THE CRUCIBLE HACKS series, these questions can help inoculate you against abandoning the path that takes you to and keeps you pursuing your life of significance.

Here’s just one question from that worksheet to inspire you to not let your next worst day — and let’s face it, folks, life gives us more than one bad day in our lifetimes — define you. So, ponder this when it happens, marshalling all you’ve come to understand about who you uniquely are from this series on Crucible Hacks:

How do I keep going if the initial steps of my vision don’t work out?

The best answer to that question is another thing Warwick says quite a bit: take the next right step. You don’t have to score a 99-yard touchdown every time you grab the ball and set out on the field where your life of significance is the endzone. You can, like great football teams do, just focus on continuing to move the ball forward. Positive gains toward your life of significance will add up, getting you to the goal line in due time.

And, just like in football, if you lose a few yards on any given play, it doesn’t mean your drive is over. Simply summon the resilience to keep gaining positive yardage. Before you know it, you’ll be scoring a touchdown.