Mission Statement

An extremely effective first step in changing your life is to find your personal mission statement. This gives you a description of how you want to live (and, in effect, how you want to be remembered after you die). A mission statement will give you an overarching sense of direction. It's not a road map telling you exactly what to do in your life, but it is a compass, always pointing toward your ultimate objectives.

Writing a mission statement can be pretty intimidating, especially if you've never seen one before or if you aren't especially introspective. There are many ways to go about writing your mission statement, but I'll share the way that worked best for me.

Find a quiet place during your free time and settle down with some paper and a pencil. Then follow these steps:

1. Identify Your Life's Areas and Concerns
Make a double-spaced list on a piece of paper, naming roles (student, friend, daughter, etc.) and concerns (money, possessions, community, etc.). Think of everything you spend time or energy on. I ended up with 8 different roles/concerns, but you might think of any number.

2. Conceptualize Your Goals
Next to each role/concern, write down a list of any words that describe what you want to do or be in relation to that role/concern. For instance, next to "community" I wrote, "hospitable, reliable, supportive, active, planning, innovative, revolutionary, leadership, responsible." These aren't necessarily qualities I already have: they're simply ideals of how I want to be.

3. Prune Your Lists
Examine each role/concern's list and narrow it down to a couple of key concepts. When I narrowed down my community list, I found two words that summed up the ideas I had. I want to be a responsible member of the community, pulling my own weight and helping others; and I want to be revolutionary, meaning that I am not afraid to change policies and standards that are broken in order to create better ones.

4. Assemble the Themes
I ended up with 16 descriptive words (two for each role/concern). I examined my words carefully, looking for common themes. I summarized the themes in one sentence. That sentence became my mission statement. You can write your own statement however you want, as long as it's meaningful to you.

If this method doesn't work for you, look for other ways! The internet has plenty of resources, as well as your local library (or, if you like to spend money, bookstores).

Further Reading:
Wikipedia
Mission Statement Builder
TimeThoughts Guidelines

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