Creating and living a mission statement that will take you where you want to go.

1. Personal Mission Statement

2. “Do all the good you can, by all the means you
can, in all the ways you can, in all the places
you can, at all the times you can, to all the
people you can, as long as you ever can.”
– John Wesley

3. “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”
– Bobby McFerrin

4. Personal Mission Statement
• What you want to focus on
• What you want to accomplish
• Who you want to become
• Focus energy, actions, behaviors and decisions
toward the things that are most important to you

5. Value
• “Connecting with your own unique purpose and the
profound satisfaction that comes from fulfilling it.”
(Steven Covey, First Things First)
• Pushes you to think deeply about your life, clarify
the purpose of your life, and identify what is really
important.
• Pushes you to clarify your deepest aspirations.

6. Value
Helps answer questions:
• What do I want from my life?
• What are my talents?
• At the end of my life, what do I want to have
accomplished?

7. Personal Mission Statement Guidelines
• Keep it simple, clear and brief (three to five
sentences)
• Should touch upon what you want to focus on and
who you want to become as a person
(character), and specific actions that support this
• Should be worded positively
• Think about how your actions and character affect
important relationships in your life

8. Guidelines
• Create it as a guide for your day-to-day actions and
decisions
• Make it emotional - passionate, inspiring, energizing
• Can be time limited – one to three years; may change
over time

9. Examples
• “To…(what you want to achieve, do, become)…so
that…(reasons why it is important). I will do this
by…(specific behaviors or actions you can use to get
there).”
• “I value…(choose one to three values)… because …
(reasons why these values are important to you).
Accordingly, I will…(what you can do to live by these
values).”

10. Examples
• “To live each day with…(choose one to three values
or principles)…so that…(what living by these values
will give you). I will do this by…(specific behaviors
you will use to live by these values).”

11. Step 1 - Identify Past Successes
Four or five examples where you had personal success
in recent years (at work, in community, family, etc.)
• Developed new product at work
• Helped child’s school with fund-raiser
• Increased turnout for the opening of a new local
theater company
• Helped paint at my church
• Increased amount of time I spent with my family

12. Step 2 – Identify Core Values
List of attributes that identify who you are and what your
priorities are:
• Acceptance • Connection
• Achievement • Determination
• Balance • Dignity
• Beauty • Discipline
• Boldness • Equality
• Caring • Empathy
• Collaboration • Fairness
• Comfort • Family…
• Compassion

13. Identify Core Values
• Identify 10, then five
• Identify most important three of the five

14. Step 3 – Identify Contributions
How could you make a difference:
• World
• Family
• Work
• Friends
• Community

15. Identify Contributions
• World - Recycle
• Family - Be a good mother/father, and husband/wife;
leave the world a better place for my children and
their children
• Work - Lead by example; help make company
profitable
• Friends - Always be ready to help
• Community - Use talents to give back to community

16. Step 4 – Identify Goals
• What are your priorities?
• Short-term goals
• Long-term goals

17. Identify Goals
• Short-term - Continue my career with an employer
that allows me to use my skills, talent and values.
• Long-term - To develop other outlets for my talents
in order to achieve both personal and professional
success.

18. Step 5 – Write a Mission Statement
• How are you living it out now in your life?

19. Identify One Way, This Week,
You Can Live It Out…
• World
• Family
• Work
• Friends
• Community