Motivation on the Run

In researching for my Personal Mission Statement, I discovered the website Quintessential Careers and a great article on creating your mission statement. In the article, many different aspects are covered from defining to creating. Their focus is on the job seeker, but the information applies to me also. They emphsize the importance for defining core values and beliefs for the individual for obvious reasons, but also, in their case, to define a company with a similar mission in order to seek employment with a like souled company.

My first act in creating my mission statement was to start with a working definition, so I could execute based on a certain criteria. What I found were many differences of opinion for the definition. Some define a personal mission statement like a year goal which is reviewed and changed each year during a review process, while others look at this as an over-riding life statement that doesn’t change.

From my research, I decided that a Personal Mission Statement is the over-riding life statement that doesn’t change at different times with review. This sentence sums it up really well.

My Personal Mission Statement will define my governing principles for life and will be used to measure my daily, monthly, and annual goals.

For me, the mission statement should act as the mirror to reflect goals against actions. If your stated goals are in conflict with your overall life mission, something is askew and requires adjustment.

If you work through the process to develop a Personal Mission Statement, goals and next actions are established to work toward the desired result. For instance, if part of my mission statement is, “to love my wife unconditionally,” then any goal or action that is contrary to that statement requires review.

From the same article as above, a list of five objectives are listed with great explanations to help begin the journey. It looks like a writing exercise, but from all the research I have done, these steps are the beginning to define my personal mission statement. I must admit, I’m not sure how much of this information I will make public, but I will let you in on as much as is possible.

The Five-Step Plan for Creating Personal Mission Statements

Step 1: Identify Past Successes.
Step 2: Identify Core Values.
Step 3: Identify Contributions.
Step 4: Identify Goals.
Step 5: Write Mission Statement.

[tags]leadership, mission statement, GTD, 7 Habits[/tags]