Personal mission statements are an excellent way to create a framework for what you want to do, as well as define why you want to do it. Reviewing this statement periodically can keep you on task and on point, or help you understand how — and why — what you value has changed in the intervening time.
Creating that statement, though, will take effort and hours. You are trying to encapsulate goals, image and self into a touchstone in order to guide your future. This means introspection and careful work to craft something that moves you emotionally.
To help you find the right questions, as well as better define how to structure what you need, members of Forbes Coaches Council suggest the following:
1. Choose Your Path
All of life is a series of choices and journeys. Robert Frost refers to this in his poem, "The Road Not Taken." A personal mission statement will help you decide which road you will take. Make sure it addresses not just desires for material well-being and prosperity, but more importantly, your humanity — who you are and what you stand for as well as what you are willing to fight for or walk away from. - Gaurav Bhalla, Author of "Awakening A Leader's Soul: Learnings Through Immortal Poems"
2. Aim High When Creating Your Statement
When deciding to create a personal mission statement, aim high. It must motivate you to stretch and become the very best version of you. If you merely strive to maintain the status quo, you'll hardly succeed in pushing yourself beyond where you are currently. Therefore, be sure include your vision of excellence and how you can meaningfully impact the lives of others by leveraging your knowledge, skills and abilities. - Karima Mariama-Arthur, Esq., WordSmithRapport
3. Be True To Yourself And The Future You Want
A mission statement should represent your inherent truth. It needs to be focused in a way that it can answer, "If you are in a room with five people of equal qualification, what makes you the one to stand out?" Aim for a focus on tangible and quantifiable value, such as saving, adding, producing, delivering or improving. - Laura DeCarlo, Career Directors International
4. Find Your Core
Set aside time to answer key questions related to past and future success: Who are you? Who are you becoming? Why do you work? What is your purpose, cause or destiny? Incorporate key responses into a personal mission statement that is clear enough to drive action in the now and compelling enough to inspire growth in the future. - Kris McGuigan, Professional Courage
5. Write Your Own Obituary
This exercise sounds a bit morbid, but it helps to uncover the truth of what really matters to you. At the end of your life, how do you want to be remembered, and what do you want your life to have meant? This clarity informs the way you will show up for your family, friends, colleagues and greater spheres of influence. - Leanne Wong, MC Partners
6. Define Your Impact
Work with a coach to visualize and define the impact you want to have in your life. Then find a metaphor, artifact or picture that can serve as a daily reminder of your personal mission. Defining the impact you want to have in your life will not only help you make decisions, it will actually bring freedom, allowing you to explore many ways in which you can fulfill that mission. - Amy Douglas, Spark Coaching, LLC
7. Stay Focused On Your Envisioned Future
Think about your envisioned future. What are you working towards and what motivates you to go for it? Your mission statement is what you are working towards and what life will look like for you, once you finally arrive. Once you write it down, you'll be surprised by how focused and motivated you'll remain during the tough times. - Kimberly Buchanan, The Buchanan Group - Professional Coaching and Project Management
8. Use The Verb-Target-Outcome System
A personal mission statement is your statement of purpose and will drive the choices you make for your career, where you’ll apply for a job and how you plan to lead. An easy method is to break down your statement into a verb, target and outcome. Here's one of mine. Verb: Improve employers' ability to attract, engage and retain top talent. Target: senior management. Outcome: increased productivity. - Beth Kuhel, Get Hired, LLC
9. Keep It Short And Sweet
A personal mission statement or mantra is powerful. It can help prep you for adversity, reinvigorate you and help you feel empowered. Keep it simple. Think of who you are in four words, then two words, then one word. Then, start connecting the dots. My personal mission statement? "Challenge accepted." It might seem silly to only have two words, but I remember and use it often. - Maresa Friedman, Executive Cat Herder
10. You Already Know It
Connect with those times in your life and career when you have felt like "this is what I am meant to do" as well as "this is how I am meant to be." There are golden nuggets inside those moments. Mine them and you will surface your personal mission. On our best days, we have already lived our personal mission. The form may change, but the goal never does. - Maureen Cunningham, Up Until Now Inc.
11. Go Through Your List And Ask 'Why'
Start with listing your wishes and plans for yourself. Then go through each and ask yourself "Why?" Understanding what drives you can give you a true "a-ha!" moment and help you create a meaningful mission statement to serve as your life's compass. And when you do have it down, use the life wheel technique to keep yourself in check and maintain balance in the areas of your life that matter most. - Arno Markus, iCareerSolutions
12. Get Clarity On Your Values, Vision, Mission And Purpose
When mission statements first became popular, they actually cobbled together separate concepts: values, vision, mission and purpose. Getting clarity on these four distinctly different statements help you make faster and more confident decisions, help you know what to do in a crisis, guide how to develop your career, and much more. - Larry Boyer, Success Rockets LLC
13. Be Honest With Yourself
The key to a personal mission statement is to remember that it is, well, personal! It's for you, not others. With that in mind, be honest with yourself. Acknowledge what motivates you, be it money, altruism, recognition, care of family, business success, legacy, or personal gain, etc. Be real with yourself. There are no wrong answers (unless, of course, your mission is immoral). - Patrick Jinks, The Jinks Perspective
