Getting Clarity On Your Mission & Vision

"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens."  Carl Jung 

"We detect rather than invent our missions in life." ~Viktor Frankl

Begin With The End In Mind

When you begin with the end in mind you are living purposely and the results often are better than imagined.  

What Does your Big Picture Look Like? 

 

In order to know what you would like your end result to be, one must understand the "bigger picture".  Having a mission and vision for your life and/or business is like having the model for the "bigger picture."  Picture a compass or road map giving you directions. In his classic book and signature program, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey talks about how important it is to create a personal mission statement. He talks about a personal mission statement being like a constitution by which you make all the decisions of your life.  

Some Benefits of a Personal Mission Statement: 

  • Provides focus
  • Clarifies what is important to you
  • Helps you create the life you want instead of having things "just happen"
  • Guides your daily actions 

  • Gives you a greater sense of meaning and purpose

A beginning:

Start by answering these questions:

1) If money and time was no object what would I choose to do with my life?

  2) What are three important goals I wish to accomplish in my lifetime? 

3) What do I really love to do when I’m working?

 

4) I want others to remember me as a person who….

 

5) My gifts and natural strengths are…..

 

6) What do I want to contribute in the future for the betterment of others?

7) What am I most passionate about?

If you choose to meditate on each question before writing, that is another method to help you “go within” where all your answers lie.  The point is to get some clarity first.  Many of you probably have though deeply on these questions before.  If not, no worries; this is a process, so give yourself the time to really think about your responses.

Stream of Consciousness writing-start writing for 5 minutes

Now, you are ready to draft a rough copy of your personal mission statement. If you are familiar with "stream of consciousness" writing, this is a good place to start on your rough draft.

Be in a place where you will not be interrupted.  If you choose to center yourself by a short time of meditation or centering by breathing deeply that is fine.  If you have a timer set it for 5 minutes. If not have a clock handy and check your time before you start.  Begin to write down your thoughts about what you see your personal mission to be.  Don’t worry about spelling or grammar.  Keep writing without stopping and write whatever comes to your head even if it doesn’t seem to make sense. 

(When I did this exercise I wrote random thoughts after awhile; things like "my hand is cramping…I’m really done"…then I would have a concrete thought about something write it down and keep going)

After five minutes you are done. You may be amazed about how much you have written.  In a few days you might look at it again and start to see common themes.  For now, however kudos are in order!

Congratulations on your first draft!  You've taken important steps towards getting clarity on your mission and vision.

  • Next month we’ll talk more about revising and finalizing your mission statement.

 


        
 

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