This post was originally published on August 30, 2013 and has been updated.
Mission statements are critical to directing success. Companies have them, why don’t individuals? Having one can help you focus and reach what you want to accomplish in life by answering the who, what, why and how of you. Its not a mission statement unless it is written down. Whether or not you are trying to make career or college decisions in your life, everyone needs to have a personal mission statement.
The exercises focused on identifying finding your talents, passions and values, for career purposes are a good starting place to help you discover your mission. Just as the best place for shining your light for your career is at the intersection of these three things, so is your personal mission. If you haven’t taken the time identify your talents, passions and values, I would encourage you to identify your top three in each area by looking at the resources here on the blog that have focused on talents, passions and values throughout 2018 and looking toward 2019. When you define your mission, you should be able to live out your talents, passions, and values through it.
Don’t want to wake up with regrets?
We use a workshop called The Power of 3 to walk people through creating personal mission statements, goals and success strategies for themselves in order to help them insure they are living life to the fullest. They help people not wake up one day with a whole list of regrets. Mission statements also help people say no to things that aren’t inline with their mission (more on this here).
You can download the worksheet to this workshop here: Power of 3 Worksheet.
Here are some other tools for creating a mission statement for yourself:
- Strategic Resolutions
- How to Develop a Mission Statement: EntreLeadership Online Worksheet
- Check out First Things First by Stephen Covey and Robert and Rebecca Merrill for lots of resources and ideas on defining a mission.
What is your personal mission?
