What is an example of a personal mission statement?
If you have a job, or own a business, chances are your company has a mission statement, vision statement, and values to guide operational goals. If the company (or your company) is effectively implementing its mission statement, then you should be familiar with it and how it relates to your day to day work.
So, why do companies have and need mission statements? And why you need to create a personal mission statement for yourself?
It’s all about “why!”
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Forbes contributor William Craig contends that there are many reasons companies have mission statements, first and foremost (well implemented) mission statements drive engagement.
In a recent article, Craig highlights that “mission-driven workers are 54 percent more likely to stay for five years at a company and 30 percent more likely to grow into high performers than those who arrive at work with only their paycheck as the motivator.”
And if you’re working at a job or company that you dislike, or is a highly toxic work environment, you know something is missing. If you’re only in it for the paycheck you know something is missing for you too.
This is why it’s so important whether you’re an employee or entrepreneur to write your own personal mission statement. Just like creating a personal brand mantra is an incredibly powerful motivator to achieving your goals.
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Why Create a Personal Mission Statement?
Well let me ask you something, what do you want to be doing in one year? How about 10 years? Where do you want to live, what do you want for your family, how much do you want to be earning? What kind of a person will you have to be to accomplish all of this?
If you don’t know the answers to all of these questions, chances are you are letting other people determine your priorities for you. If you do not wake up every day knowing your purpose, goals, and objectives, you are very likely to be influenced by what other people may consider high priority. As an example, if you do not have a mission and purpose to be healthy, it is very easy to be influenced by marketers of food that is fast and easy, but not healthy.
In his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki encourages his readers to learn how to “mind their own business”, meaning to learn about and pay careful attention to your personal assets and liabilities. Robert’s point was that if you do not pay attention to and have control of your personal finances and cash flow, you will spend your whole life taking care of other people’s businesses as an employee, and never get ahead financially yourself.
👉🏽 RELATED POST: How to Create a Personal Brand Mantra
So, Why Do You Need a Personal Mission Statement?
Building off of Robert’s theme, what I am telling you is simply this; if you do not treat your life and personal priorities with the serious commitment and drive as you would running a business, your outcomes in life will be determined by other people, not by you.
A personal mission statement, like a company mission statement, is the foundation and guiding philosophy for you to achieve, contribute, and love your life.
A business without a strong mission statement is not likely to stay in business long, because the market and competitors will determine that business’ outcomes. Your life is worth living on your terms, not what anyone else decides for you!!!
How to Create a Personal Mission Statement
Step #1: Define Your Purpose
The first step in developing a personal mission statement is to define your purpose in life. Referencing one of Robert Kiyosaki’s teachings, think about 3 things “Be, Do, and Have”. Some people think that deciding on their goals, what they want to have, is enough to help achieve what they want in life. More importantly is to backtrack and think, “what kind of person do I want to be?”
If you spend some time thinking about the kind of person you want to “be”, you can start thinking about what you will need to “do” in order to “have” what you want in life. Most company mission statements follow this template; in other words, companies do not simply state as their mission that they want to make a profit, they state who they will serve (customers) and how they will assure their delivery of service.
So, what is the purpose of your life?
That is a heavy question, I know, but it is one we must all answer in order to develop a personal mission statement. To get you started, consider Tony Robbins’ 6 Core Human Needs.
As a shortcut, to define the purpose of your life, consider the following:
- What do you want to achieve, how will this make you feel significant?
- What and who makes you feel loved and connected in your life?
- How will you grow, how will you contribute to others (and who will you contribute to)?
Essentially, your purpose in life needs to include yourself, and others. No business can achieve goals without a team of employees, suppliers, distributors, contractors, etc., and no person can live a life of significance without contributing beyond themselves.
How do you write a personal Mission statement?
Here is a great free template for a personal mission statement, to help stimulate your creativity in developing your major purpose in life. There are some great examples of people who have achieved great success in life, and their personal mission statement. As you can see, short and sweet is best, think 2-3 sentences.
Step #2: Make a Plan
Do you have your purpose in life and personal mission statement yet? Great! What you need to do now is to make a plan to assure you are on track.
Your personal mission statement is something that should get you excited to wake up everyday! It is a combination of who you are, who you want to become, and what you are going to contribute. In order to make progress towards being the person you want to become, you will need a plan.
Your plan is essentially goal setting, how you will make sure you are living your personal mission. Companies with mission statements will often have measurable goals and objectives, which will tell them if they are fulfilling their mission statement. In addition to profits, companies are likely to have metrics related to quality, customer satisfaction, innovation, and many others.
One way to make sure your plan is in line with your values is to follow the SMART Goal setting method. I have an example on my blog you can take a look setting health and fitness goals here.
Step #3: Track Your Progress
After you have created your personal mission statement and made your plans and goals, you will need a plan to track your progress! This is your personal form of assessment, how do you know you are living your mission.
If you took a look at my blog post (above) on goal setting for Health and Fitness, you may notice a slight variation on the Acronym SMART Goals, and that is T stands for “Trackable”. Is your goal trackable, and can you relate it back to your mission?
👉🏽 RELATED POST: The Best Printable Planner to Achieve Your Goals
Make sure your goal is Trackable
For example, if part of your mission statement is “to serve my community”, is that a trackable goal? My answer is, how do you define serving your community? If you are walking your dog, and pick up one piece of trash, did you live your mission of serving your community that week? It all depends on how you define serving your community.
For each part of your mission statement, make sure you back it up very clearly in your goals and plans with many quantifiable action steps that you can look at each day, week, and month. Make sure you include short and long term quantifiable goals, so it is easy to feel like you are doing something every day to live your mission!
You need a system to track your goals, you need to write them down. Make sure you have a written or electronic planner which outlines your mission statement, your goals, and milestones to track your progress, like the Slay Your Goals Planner. This should not be something you look at once per year, more like weekly, or even daily.
To be successful, you need to commit your personal mission statement to memory, and also read it every day like an affirmation. You need to set up a schedule to review your short, mid-range, and long term goals.
Living Your Mission Statement
One way to make sure you live your mission every day is making it part of your morning routine. Morning routines are wonderful ways to set yourself up to be successful, regardless of your goals. Here are some great resources for developing your morning routine!
When you wake up in the morning, what is the first thing you do? Do you reach for your phone? Bad idea!! When you reach for your phone, you allow the first thoughts of your day to be determined by texts, social media, work or personal email. You start off the day playing defense!
Start Each Day with Gratitude
Much better to start off the day playing offense. Try something like this; immediately when you open your eyes, think of something in your life that you are grateful for. If you are having a hard time in your life, think about something you could be grateful for, if you really wanted to.
👉🏽 RELATED POST: 37 Inspirational Gratitude Quotes
Next, focus on something that you want to, and WILL accomplish today. What is something that you will do to love your mission today! Once again, make sure this is trackable, and winnable.
The final thing to focus on is: what is one thing you did yesterday to live your mission, something that was a win? The key thing here is “one thing”, not the whole day, not everything. Your morning routine needs to be focused on the positive, not reflecting on ways you did not meet your goals or live your mission.
There is a fine balance between holding yourself accountable to goals and making your mission unlivable. Even the most successful people and companies are not perfect, but they always focus on what they can do, rather than dwelling on times they did not meet their standards.
It’s Important to Have a Personal Mission Statement
Your personal mission statement is crucial to assure that you are living life on your terms, and not someone else’s. Do not sell yourself short on long term goals and aspirations, but make sure there are winnable goals that you can accomplish every day to live your mission.
Simple Example of a Personal Mission Statement
For example, if part of your mission is to “be a loving person”, and the way you define being a loving person is “I must do something every day for 50 people that impact them so much they tell me they love me”, you are not going to feel like you are living your mission. Try something more like, “every day of my life, I will do something kind for another person, and that will demonstrate that I am being a loving person.”
The second example is something that you can easily track each and every day, and be living your mission!
The Printable Slay Your Goals Guide
Ready to live out your personal mission statement? It’s time to start achieving your goals. Here are the ten steps you need actually achieve your goals in life, including how to set your intention, choose your #1 goal and setting mini-goals.
Sign up below for your FREE 10 Step Guide + weekly tips to help you slay your goals.
Love your life, and live it on your own terms with a personal mission statement!
What’s your personal mission statement?
More About Guest Contributor
Dom Uguccioni is a husband, father, full-time College Administrator, and Fitness Blogger.
Last Updated on November 26, 2024
