There is a quote by the great baseball player Lawrence “Yogi” Berra saying, “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” Berra certainly knew where he was going! In his 19-year baseball career, he was named MVP of the American league three times, and later as a manager he led both American and National league teams to the World Series.
While great things can sometimes happen without planning, most great achievements are reached by knowing “where you are going” and strategically aligning your goals and accomplishments in that pursuit. You could call it your “personal mission.” In Dr. Criswell Freeman’s book, Simplicity is Genius, principle 2 is all about clarifying your own personal mission.
A company or organization’s mission statement is developed to inform and clarify exactly what they value, care about, and will be striving to accomplish. In the same way, Criswell explains, your personal mission statement “should contain a brief overview of your attitudes toward the most important areas of your life, including spiritual, family, professional, health-related, financial, and social concerns.”
3 Steps for Creating Your Personal Mission Statement
- Identify what you care about and where you want your focus. Look at the categories outlined by Criswell above. Determine what is most important to you and where you want to end up.
- Write it down. Don’t cheat yourself by just casually thinking about your mission statement. Put it in writing and keep it where you can see it. Commit it to memory if you would like, but make sure to keep a written copy.
- Follow through on your mission statement by aligning your goals, priorities, and commitments accordingly. For example, if you state that your physical wellbeing is important, commit to getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, and eating healthy. Don’t leave your mission statement as a nice-sounding paragraph and that’s it. Commit to act upon the words you have written!
What does your personal mission statement look like? Do you know where you’re going? Do your current actions and goals align with the place you want to end up? I encourage you to take a reflective moment and figure out just what you want to accomplish out of life. Do this and, as Criswell states, “you’ll ensure that your journey is worthy of its traveler.”
