Personal mission statements: transform your life with 6 easy tips

No need to read the gambit of self-help books, your personal mission statement will come alive with these simple tips.

Iconic author, Stephen Covey, pragmatically leads his readers through a deep dive of self-development. He encourages the reader to create their own personal mission statement, among other activities, in his timeless book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. The magic of Covey is the comprehensive yet simple platform of his “Habits”, meant to inspire us to joyful, values-based, productive, and thoughtful lives.

Covey lays the foundation and suggests tools to empower readers to create their own self-expanding, life changing activities. One of those transformational tools is a personal mission statement.

Flashback: I’m a 28-year-old mother of a five-year old and a one-year-old, reading every self-actualizing author, meditating, and generally learning about being a good student of life. What wisdom did I hold at 28 that made me feel like I could write a personal mission statement that would have significance into the future? Well, I can tell you I felt way out of my league. I was pretty sure what I wrote would be useless to me, but I followed through with the exercise because it was recommended by Covey.

What I didn’t know when I wrote that little beacon of light was that I would come back to it so many times. While there are many benefits to this exercise, the greatest benefits I have received are:

Your mission statement will guide you over and over again in unexpected and profound ways.

If there is one thing you can do this week that will give you a gift many times over, why not start with a personal mission statement?

You already have the wisdom to make this happen.

That’s what thewisomofus is all about: helping people realize their own wisdom, so they may live full and thoughtful lives.

After all this time, I know I have grown, but am also enlightened by the 28-year-old version of me, who invested in herself enough to write these words in the first place. I share my mission statement with you:

I will strive to make compassion, honesty, and integrity cornerstones of each of my actions and associations.

Money will serve me and my family in the things we do, but I will not be a slave to it or my consumer desires.

Every success in my life begins with me. I will spend time developing my “self” in quiet reflection, in a healthy lifestyle and in feeding my mind so I may grow. I am not less than anyone nor more than anyone.

I will strive to allow my children the time to grow at their own pace to become whole human beings, through all that I model, all that I teach and every opportunity I provide them.

I will love and recognize love.

Your inner voice may say “I’m not qualified”, “I don’t know where to start”, “others are better at this than I am”.

The reality is, you have to start where you are.

Invest in yourself.

There is no past or future without now.

Here are a few tips for creating your mission masterpiece:

1. Reflect on the most important values in your life. Capture those values in your statement.
2. Articulate an important personal goal, or several you strive toward. This will remind you of your inner potential, and encourage you forward in your spiritual journey.
3. Determine your ideal self. Articulate the self you want eulogized.
4. What core message will provide a legacy to your future self? This spiritual gift will keep on giving.
5. Refine your masterpiece as time passes. Let your growth be reflected in your personal mission statement.

You can do this!

The only thing stopping you, is your belief in yourself.

You are worth the time!

Take a few minutes and record your thoughts right now!