I recently spoke to a crowd of over 20,000 people affilitated with TEAM in Louisville, KY regarding Personal Mission Statements.  Since then, I have had a number of people asking me questions about the talk.  Here is an outline of the talk and a link to an article that is the best I've ever seen regarding helping someone write a personal mission statement.  Read this posting, click on the link and change your life!  Here it is:

In 1970, sociologist Dr. Edward Banfield of Harvard University described a profound study on success and priority setting.  He was searching for why some people became financially independent in their lifetime while others did not.  He expected to find that financial success was primarily a result of various outside influences yet concluded that ultimately it came down to a personal mindset.  He concluded that the most successful people had, what he termed, a “long time perspective.”  The most successful in life were those who took the future into consideration with every decision they make in the present.

In Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady’s book, Launching a Leadership Revolution, they wrote, “The entire Cycle of Achievement begins with vision.  Vision is tomorrow’s reality expressed as an idea today.”  The whole idea of having a “dream come true” is obviously based on the concept that one has a dream.  It has been said, “Since there is no question that we are all going to die, then the only question is whether we have really lived.” 

The first step of creating a purpose-driven, meaningful life is defining your Personal Mission Statement.   Do you have a vision of where you are going in life?  Are you a “meaningful specific” or a “wondering generality?”  Many people are like a boat with a broken rudder floating in the ocean.  They are blown this way and that based on how the wind may be blowing.  They have no direction and, as a result, end life having never really lived.  A Personal Mission Statement that has been created with purposeful thought sets a valuable course for life.  It will help you define who you are, what you are about, and why you are here.  It will help you make difficult decisions.  It will help you realize how little time you truly have in life.  It will help you recognize when you are off course and steer you back on track.

Many of us have heard how important it is to create Personal Mission Statements but most of us have never done it.  However, author and speaker, Laura Stack wrote an article with a very simple process to developing one’s Personal Mission Statement.  By clicking on link below and following the steps outlined you may well change in your life forever!!!

http://www.revolutionhealth.com/healthy-living/relationships/time/time-savers/life-goals

Once you have created your personal mission statement, continually ask yourself, if an activity is moving toward your mission in life?  Are you “Supporting yourself?”  Author Brian Tracy has said, “You can tell how important something is today by measuring its potential future impact on your life.”  Be willing to sacrifice short-term for the long-term benefits that fulfill your mission.

The second step of creating success in your life is defining your priorities by using your Personal Mission Statement as your guide.  Peter Drucker said, “Efficiency is doing things right, but effectiveness is doing the right things.” 

Set priorities using the A-E method.  This is a simple method of writing down everything that needs to be done and assigning an A-E to them:

A – Item is absolutely necessary.  It is very important and there are big consequences if it is not completed.

B – Item is big in importance but the consequences are not too severe if not completed.

C – Item has no consequences if not completed.

D – Item can be delegated.

E – Item can be eliminated.

The final step of creating success in your life is staying the course of completing your priorities as they have been established in alignment with your Personal Mission Statement.  It has been said that, “True character is the ability to carry out a goal long after the mood in which it was created has passed.”  How many times have you decided that something was important only to find yourself not motivated to stick with it later?  Success has its price and it’s those moments where your display of character will really pay off! 

Three keys to consider while ‘staying the course’:

1. Is this activity moving me toward my mission?  This may be a new question for you if you never had a Personal Mission Statement before.  However, you will be amazed at how things will have a different meaning to you now that you have clarified a vision for your life.  Focus your energy on activities that are moving you toward your vision.
2. “It’s not about how much time you spend on tasks, but rather it’s about how much time you spend on High-Priority tasks.  Be sure to put as much time in as possible to the ‘A’ and ‘B’ tasks.
3. Beware of ‘Urgent’ distractions.  Stephen Covey in his book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People writes about recognizing the difference between items that are “Urgent” vs “Important”.  He states that the important things in life “rarely ring” while the urgent almost always do.  For example, you are doing something important when the phone rings.  What do you do?  Most of us instinctually run to answer the phone.  Why?  Is it really that important or did it ring and suddenly capture our attention?  Stephen Covey says that most people will do the items that are Urgent and Important and not the non-Urgent and non-Important items.  However, he says that the trick is to stay focused on completing items that are Important and non-Urgent over the items that are Urgent and non-Important.  A simple way to stay on track with this concept is to continually say, “WIN.”  WIN stands for the question, “What’s Important Now?”

Life is so precious.  We are all here for a reason.  It has been said that two of the most important dates of your life are the day you were born and the day you discover why.  Create a Personal Mission Statement, set your priorities and stay the course.  Make your life purpose-driven!