Life presents man with choices every day, and there is a need to carve out a niche for himself. This will prevent him from taking up just anything or swallowing anything life offers him. This is what birth the concept of a personal mission statement. In this article, we will see about ‘How To Write A Personal Mission Statement?’.
How To Write A Personal Mission Statement?
This article seeks to explain the writing of a personal mission statement. However, let’s see what a personal mission statement is, before discussing its writing.
Personal Mission Statement
A personal mission statement gives an explanation of what your values and purpose in life are. In other words, it talks about who you are and what success is to you. In addition to this, it also explains how you intend to achieve your purpose as well as the reason it matters so much to you.
A personal mission statement guides your decisions and ensures you are focused to meet your long-term goals. It creates clear boundaries, as it helps to sift away those things that do not align with your purpose in life. It helps a great deal to ascertain the things to say no and yes to. Thus, your energy and time are saved for the things you consider important.
Apart from the foregoing, having a personal mission statement also helps you to become a better and more successful person. The reason is not farfetched, your mission is so powerful and it’s the driving force. Thus, you are willing and ready to do whatever it will take for personal and professional improvement, to achieve your goals. Also, you begin to see obstacles and challenges as a springboard for achieving your goals.
Scribbling and living your purpose and reason for living also motivate you, thereby making life interesting and giving some sort of satisfaction. The importance of having a personal mission statement cannot be overemphasized, as it acts as a decision-making guardrail, thus determining how your time is spent and your interaction with people as well as how you go about your job. Simply put, it helps to draw a chart of where you want to go in life.
Moreover, your short and long-term goals are actualized when you have a personal mission statement.
Typically, a good mission statement should cover three germane things:
1. Your skills and abilities (those things that interest you)
2. Your personality qualities (the way you operate)
3. Your passion, dreams, and values (the reason you want to be outstanding).
How to Write a Personal Mission Statement?
The steps below will provide you guidance in writing a personal mission statement
1. Write the thing that is most important you; those things you are passionate about. That is, what is the problem you care about and what are those things in the world that bother you the most, and that you intend to bring solutions to. Giving attention to your personality and what you set out to achieve is vital here. Also, examine your most valued person or thing and how your life is connected to them or it.
2. Reflect and scribble your most important goals. Questions bordering on your relationships, achievement, and career should also be asked. These Questions will, by no means, help you put things in proper perspective:
What qualities do you want to be associated with? What achievement do you want to record career-wise? What level are you in your career? What personal and communal achievement do you desire?
3. Highlight your strengths. Carefully ponder and identify your skills and those qualities that make you outstanding and different from other people. For example, what do people compliment about you?
You can also speak with your contemporaries and mentors, asking what they deem to be your greatest strengths. Ponder on those things that make you outstanding when described in relation to others with related skill sets. Also, scribble the idea you want people to have when they think of you.
4. While being intentional, enumerate the legacy you want to outlive you. State the footprint you intend to leave on the world and the strategy you want to employ in bringing it to the limelight with your set skills. Answering the following questions will help you greatly:
What specifically is your purpose on earth? What is that vision or mission that gives you joy or motivates you? How precisely would you want the world to be perceived differently when you leave? What lasting establishment, maintenance, and changes do you have in mind? Do you have extraordinary qualities, abilities, talents, and traits to offer the world? If yes, mention them. Who are the people or what thing are you planning to assist with your unique skills and abilities, and what is your strategy?
5. Put it all together. Putting all the answers together will help you to fully grasp your unique gifting, insights, and talents that are not found in others. Thus, it gives you a clearer view of who you are, what you want to achieve, and how you intend to do it. The discovery of these things will lift your spirit while motivating you to live life to its fullest.
The following tips can be injected when writing your mission statement
- Ensure to make it brief. Concentrate and give attention to what matters the most. While doing this, you can scribble about five words that describe you and your purpose, and this will help greatly. Streamline it to the best two and then one thing that explains you and your purpose. This should be an inspiration to keep your mission statement short.
- As much as possible, ensure you are true to yourself. Let your mission statement express what you are passionate about as well as your long-term purpose. Changes can also be made to your mission statement as you learn and progress in life.
- Elicit responses from people who are significant in your life. This is because they can give you vital insights which will help in improving your mission statement.
In order not to lose sight of your mission statement, it is advisable to print it and put it in a visible place, where you can always see it. This will serve as a reminder of how your daily activities will culminate in your ultimate goal in life.
As much as you want to live following your mission statement, you should also ensure to keep people around you, especially those closest to you, informed about it. This will serve as a form of accountability, making sure you live up to what you wrote and said.
Conclusion
A personal mission statement is a must-have for everyone who is set on the path of purpose fulfillment in life. The writing of a personal mission statement has been explained in this article. Also, the article has provided the necessary guidance you needed for writing it.
FAQs
- How important is a personal mission statement?
It helps to define your goals and dismiss distractions, thus providing a clearer pathway to success.
- What are those things that should be in a personal mission statement?
Typically, it should contain a description of yourself, your purpose, value, and goals.
