A few years back, our principal gave the teachers the responsibility of writing the school’s mission statement. Everyone put their heads together and brainstormed words that described our school on large pieces of chart paper. The staff came up with one sentence about the school that briefly summarizes how teachers want it to be seen by the public, as “A positive place to learn with staff, parents, and students accepting responsibility for students’ academic success.”
I like it. It shows that the teachers want the school to be a positive environment. They want students to be successful, but know that success is dependent on a team effort between teachers, parents, and students.
Earlier this year I decided that I wanted the one word, “purpose” to be my focus for the rest of 2014.
I have to be honest that, soon after January, my one word had pretty much slipped my mind… Until today. This morning as I was washing shampoo out of my hair (is it just me, or does true inspiration come while you’re showering, too?), I realized how similar my word purpose is to a personal mission statement.
A personal mission statement is such a cool thing. Just like how a school’s or business’s mission statement summarizes how they want their organization to be viewed, it’s the one phrase or sentence that sums up you. When people describe you, this is the statement you would hope that they would make.
Here is one way to write your personal mission statement:
First, write down all the things that are important to you- family, friends, fitness, fun, being outdoors, etc. Then highlight the ones you like the most.
From that, try to fit each idea into a category. Each of the things that you would like to be true about you should relate to your new personal mission statement.
Mine is “Kindness, Joy, Love, Adventure.”
Your personal mission statement doesn’t have to be as short as mine. It can be a short phrase like, “Live every day with no regrets” or, “Keep calm and live life fully.”
My mission statement helps me to justify the things I do and don’t allow in my life. If I don’t love it, it doesn’t belong in my life. If it doesn’t bring me joy (or give me the opportunity to bring others joy), it doesn’t belong in my life. If it’s an opportunity for me to show kindness, it belongs in my life. And if it’s some kind of an adventure, it definitely belongs in my life. It’s all about finding balance and being who you want to be. 
Having a personal mission statement gives me a better focus on what my purpose is, here on this earth. It makes it easier for me to say no to the things that don’t fit in with my personal mission statement, in order to say yes to the things that help me to live the my life the way I want to.