Boosting Productivity by Creating Your Personal Mission Statement

A personal mission statement is a brief statement about what you feel is important for you to commit to accomplishing in your life, whether that has to do with identifying a career or determining your unique purpose for being.

The idea is to identify your core values and beliefs to develop a statement that is authentic and honest, a statement that describes what you want from your career, your life and yourself. Keep in mind that once written it can be changed. It is not meant to be etched in stone, but is meant to be fluid like a river, changing as you and your life change. Be sure to review it often and adjust it according to where you are in your life.

How to Write a Personal Mission Statement

Just like a business has a mission statement and business plan, you need to have similar tools to guide you through life. Not something that you can write overnight, a personal mission statement takes time as you focus on your desires or inner calling.

Start by looking at any company website and you're likely to see their company mission statement. In fact, check out the website of your own employer and you'll probably see their mission, vision and values statements.

Your personal mission statement should encompass the same kind of information. It should communicate who you are, what you value, what you want to accomplish, and how you will reach your goals. The benefit to you is that knowing this information can help you choose the right path when faced with multiple options and keep you centered and going in the right direction.

If you want assistance with writing your own personal mission statement, FranklinCovey offers a mission statement builder.

How to Use a Personal Mission Statement to be Productive

Because your personal mission statement is meant to keep you on the right path and assist you to make the right decisions, it is an important part of being productive. Here are five things you can do to make sure you personal mission statement helps you remain productive.

1. Make sure it's up to date. One of the most important aspects of having a personal mission statement is to ensure it is frequently reviewed and regularly updated. By using your personal mission statement as the foundation of what you do each day, you can focus on your life's dreams, your short- and long-term goals, and what you need to accomplish each day.




2. Take it a step at a time. There's an old joke about eating the whole elephant at once and how difficult that can be. By using your personal mission statement as the guiding force to what you want to accomplish and then breaking your goals down into achievable steps, you will find it easier to move forward.




3. Focus on the important stuff. It's so easy to get lost in the sauce by focusing on the inconsequential things in life. By understanding your mission, you understand your direction and goals. That means everything else is irrelevant. To help you maintain your focus and do what you need to do, you have to learn to say ‘no' when appropriate and delegate to those who are better equipped to handle what you can't.




4. Learn to be flexible. Naturally during the course of your work week you are going to hit bumps in the road. It's important to build flexibility into your schedule. Your personal mission statement can help you to focus on what you want to achieve so you can deal with unexpected issues. Remember: crises generally occur when we don't prepare in advance and aren't doing what we need to do.




5. Be the best you. Constantly strive to improve your efficiency, your effectiveness, and your organization skills. Use your personal mission statement as a guide for how to perform at your peak. Know that the only way to achieve your self-defined success and be the best you you can be is to constantly improve.

The idea is to define who you are and what you want by developing a personal mission statement which can offer you a foundation to the choices and decisions you make in your life each day. It's the best way to achieve personal success.