Personal Mission Statement
“Creating and living an empowering mission statement has a significant impact on the way we spend our time. When we talk about time management, it seems ridiculous to worry about speed before direction, about saving minutes when we may be wasting years.” - Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill, and Rebecca R. Merrill from First Things First
Why don’t more of us think about our personal mission statements?
Oftentimes when we think of a mission statement we think of a business or organization's mission. But we can create them for ourselves for the same reasons organizations have them!
It is hard to talk about a mission without also mentioning the difference between a mission, vision, and values.
A personal mission helps us understand our intended impact and the goals we want to achieve. It helps us define what we want to be and what we want to do. It gives us direction and helps us move forward in a fulfilling and meaningful way.
Our vision is a broader statement of what we would like to achieve overall and helps clarify where we see ourselves in the future.
Our values help guide the decisions, behaviors, and actions that allow us to work towards our mission.
A personal mission statement doesn’t have to be earth shattering or complicated. It doesn’t even have to be more than a sentence (but it can be as long as you want). In fact, it can even change over time. Just like an organization can revisit their vision, mission, and values, we can too!
A mission statement helps us reflect on our own values, the direction we are going and why. When we start to solidify our mission, we can identify what is most important to us and allow daily decisions to be influenced by our mission. It helps us prioritize what to focus on and how to spend our time and energy.
Even the small tasks, activities and engagements we are carrying out daily can be tied back to our mission, vision and values!
I invite you to think about this and if you don’t already have something written down, try drafting your own personal mission statement. This is just a start. For some people this can take a couple hours while for others it could take much less or much more time. There is no prescribed way to do it.
Here are some questions to get you started on developing a personal mission statement:
What are your top three values?
What inspires and motivates you?
What brings you joy and happiness?
What are your top three strengths?
At your best, how do people describe you?
What would you like to accomplish or contribute to the world?
In a world with no obstacles, what would you be doing?
There is no right or wrong way to do this and remember that this is a living document! The idea is that sometimes we get stuck or caught up in the busyness of life to stop and think about why we are doing the things we are doing.
It is never too late to think about where we are and where we want to be. Creating our own personal mission statement is just one way to help us use our time and energy in a way that is meaningful to us.
Here are a few examples of personal mission statements.
May I live a life using my knowledge and skills to motivate and serve others so that they can reach their full potential. — Susan
To live life to the fullest by finding joy, leaning into my values, and protecting my time and energy. — D.M.C.
Be kind to myself, others, and the environment. — Anonymous
“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”
— Maya Angelou
If you want to talk more about creating your personal mission statement, I would love to chat! Click here to learn more about my coaching services.
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