Creating your own mission statement

You may have had to create a company mission statement (and if you haven’t, count yourself lucky). While sometimes the process can be enjoyable, it all too often involves long meetings at conference tables, a whiteboard and weak cafetiere coffee.

Happily for all of us, developing your own personal mission statement involves none of these, though sitting down with a (non-cafetiere) coffee might be a good start.

The only similarity between a personal and company mission statement is that both are there to guide you – a personal mission statement is a little like a compass helping you navigate through life. Having a personal mission statement can help you get through life’s troughs, get a boost when faced with self-doubt, like Imposter Syndrome, and can help you decide whether opportunities you’re presented with are actually right for you.

Personal mission statements are short, usually no more than two sentences, and are positive statements. There’s no ‘don’t’, can’t’, or ‘won’t’ in a personal mission statement.

Dr Hansen has developed 5 key steps for developing a personal mission. We’ve all personally found them super helpful in guiding a path towards being able to develop our own mission statements.

Step 1 – Identify your past successes

Think about a time when you really shone! This could be at home, at work – wherever! See if there are any common patterns or contributors that allow you to really succeed.

Step 2 – Identify your core values

This will be easier if you’ve read our blog posts on [Clarity] and [know your ikigai]. Try and have a handful of values that you find important, around three to five is a great number.

Step 3 – Identify contributions

Based on what you value, and where you know you can succeed, have a think about all the practical ways you can make a difference, because you definitely can. This could be on how to contribute to your family, your job, your friends, your community or even the world.

Step 4 – Identify goals

Break up your personal goals into short-term ones and long-term ones.

Step 5 – Write it all down!

After reflecting on your strengths, your values and how you can align them – write it all down. Refine it into a mantra you can repeat as often as you need it. Ta da! You have a personal mission statement.

No matter what, it’s important to remember that your personal statement will be unique to you! It can be as specific as “to use my creative skills to educate others in my community to affect real change” or as broad as “to treat everyone with love and respect”.

Even though they are personal, we encourage you to share your personal statement with those around you. It’s a great way to build ideas and develop them further. We also recommend that you revisit your personal mission statement every little while – pop it in your diary as something to do at the beginning of the year. Mid-year check-ins are also a great way to ensure you’re sticking by them.

Lastly, don’t just create a mission statement and pop it away. Mission statements need to be used! Write it down somewhere obvious – stick it on your computer at work, on the fridge or in your wallet. Make this statement something that you can rely on when the going gets tough, so that you can keep going in the direction you want to.