What is your purpose: Developing a Mission Statement for Your Life

Developing a Mission Statement for your Life

Have you ever wondered why you were here? Not here as in on-line communicating with others but, the big WHY? Why do you exist? Why do we exist? What is our purpose?

What actions, values and causes inspire us as human beings? What is Our Mission? What are we collectively for? What is our vision for ourselves? Why? How do the missions of the individual human being relate to the mission of the entire human race? What is Life Calling Us to do? Ultimately: What Is Our Mission Statement?

The purpose of any mission statement is to communicate with one another what we are committed to doing. A mission statement communicates the ideal; the end result to which the work is leading.

Maybe now more than ever before, in this time of conflict and confusion of crisis beyond our control on a global scale, it is imperative upon us to reflect on the actions, values and beliefs that guide our lives.

Should your/our life, our societal structure, our purpose be guided by a hoped for result? By not giving ample time to determining our purpose - are we wandering down many paths, following the shiniest ball of the moment, and lacking of vision for our future? If you believe at all that some clarification of purpose would serve you, or indeed serve all of us, then I would share this place to start.

Ok…so here comes the “working” part of this thread. (the roll up your sleeves, here we go part)

Many more years than I’d care to count ago, I had the experience of working with corporate and non-profit boards and government in developing mission statements. Throughout the various retreats, different methods were used to help develop mission statements that were clear, concise and against which all future plans and actions could be measured.

The tools I will share have been inspired by many sources over the years. The one that I have found most useful inspired me to develop a boiled-down version that can work for either finding your own personal purpose and/or the purpose for a collective such as humanity itself. Source

I strongly encourage anyone who has not recently taken the time to consider where you are and where you really want to go in life to try the following steps. These steps are a way of developing a mission statement for your own life and our lives collectively without being overwhelmed by having to put the whole thing together at once. Here is where it starts.

Part I: Mission Statement Action Words

A good place to start developing a mission statement is by finding the actions that resonate within oneself. Search for words that, for lack of a more scientific definition, just seem to fit. They feel right. They make you feel like yes…I do that and I love doing that and it fits. Then search the list again for the three words that you feel represent what we collectively should be doing. You can only choose three.

Every mission requires action. Action words are verbs. Verbs are the DO part of any plan. At the basic level what three things is it you really like to DO? Look at this list and select 3 verbs that most inspire you. Write them down. What are they?

Examples of Action Verbs

Accomplish
Achieve
Acquire
Adopt
Advance
Affect
Affirm
Alleviate
Amplify
Appreciate
Ascend
Assist
Associate
Believe
Bestow
Brighten
Build
Call
Cause
Choose
Claim
Collect
Combine
Command
Communicate
Compel
Compete
Complete
Compliment
Compose
Conceive
Confirm
Connect
Consider
Construct
Contact
Continue
Counsel
Create
Decide
Defend
Delight
Deliver
Demonstrate
Design
Devise
Direct
Discover
Discuss
Distribute
Draft
Dream
Drive
Educate
Elect
Embrace
Encourage
Endow
Engage
Engineer
Enhance
Enlighten
Enlist
Enliven
Entertain
Enthuse
Evaluate
Excite
Expand
Explore
Express
Extend
Facilitate
Finance
Forgive
Foster
Franchise
Further
Gather
Generate
Give
Grant
Heal
Hold
Host
Identify
Illuminate
Implement
Improve
Improvise
Increase
Influence
Inspire
Integrate
Introduce
Invent
Involve
Keep
Know
Labor
Launch
Lead
Light
Live
Love
Make
Maintain
Manifest
Master
Mature
Maximize
Measure
Mediate
Model
Mold
Motivate
Move
Navigate
Negotiate
Nurture
Open
Organize
Originate
Participate
Pass
Perform
Persuade
Plan
Play
Possess
Practice
Praise
Prepare
Present
Produce
Progress
Promise
Promote
Provide
Pursue
Realize
Receive
Reclaim
Reduce
Refine
Reflect
Reform
Regard
Relate
Relax
Release
Rely
Remember
Renew resonate
Respect
Restore
Return
Revise
Sacrifice
Safeguard
Satisfy
Save
Sell
Serve
Share
Speak
Stand
Summon
Support
Surrender
Sustain
Take
Tap
Teach
Team
Touch
Trade
Transform
Translate
Travel
Understand
Unify
Use
Utilize
Validate
Value
Venture
Verbalize
Volunteer
Work
Worship
Write

Part II Mission Statement Values

For now, put those three verbs aside. Let’s move onto finding your core values. Again, let’s find three values that represent the core of what you want your life to be about, and three that represent what you believe our lives collectively should be about. What three things should you/we value above all else. Your actions are driven by your values whether you recognize it at all times or not. No personal or collective mission statement can be complete without words that reflect your/our values. Write them down.

Examples of a Core Value

Achievement
Altruism
Charity
Cooperation
Creativity
Dignity
Economic Security
Emotional Well-being
Equality
Excellence
Fame
Faith
Family
Freedom
Friendship
Generosity
Happiness
Health
Honesty
Honor
Hope
Humility
Independence
Inner peace
Integrity
Joy
Justice
Kindness
Knowledge
Love
Loyalty
Nobility
Pleasure
Positive attitude
Power
Recognition
Relationships
Respect
Safety
Self-worth
Service
Simplicity
Trust
Truth
Wealth
Wholeness
Wisdom


Now, pause before you move onto Part III. Ask yourself what principle; what cause have I identified? What value or purpose would I be willing to literally devote my life to? What would you be willing to defend to the death from the very core of your being? For those with the time to indulge all of us….please find the three core values that you think should most represent what we – collectively – stand for too.


(Continued in next post)
Edit: typo


[edit on 27-6-2010 by DancedWithWolves]

Part III Tribes

Part III moves onto identifying your three Tribes. A Tribe in this context is distilling down to the three causes you want your life to be about. What do you really and truly believe in? Again there can only be three.

What organization, causes or groups do you innately feel the need to serve or help? What three things are you most passionate about? By the same token, can we work to select three that right now, in the time in which we are living, should be the shared passions of all or many of us as human beings? It could be time well spent.

Examples of Tribes: Causes and Groups

Addiction (alcohol, other drug, etc.)
Environment
Family issues
Education
Health care
Elderly
Children
The poor
The homeless
Immigration
Energy
Agriculture
The justice system
Veterans
Nutrition
Law
Politics
Government
News
Journalism
Performing arts
Sexuality issues
Art
Literature
Music
Design
Sports
Food
Computer technology
Labor relations
Printing & publishing
Religion community development
Reproductive issues
Biotech
Women’s issues
Gardening
Broadcasting
Youth
Non-profit agencies
Churches
Synagogues
Spirituality
The ill & disabled
Public safety
Human development
Infants
Child protection
Childcare
Justice
Home health care
Tourism
Defense
Space exploration
Animal rights
Animal care
Animal protection
Labor relations
Literacy
Border issues
Civil rights issues
Source

Part IV Putting Your Mission Statement Together

Taking the three sets of three words you have written down, assemble them into a mission statement of your own. Try using the three verbs with each of the three core values and tribes you wrote down in different combinations.

Search for the values and tribes and verbs out of the nine total you chose that most fit who you are and what you represent as a person. Mission = Verbs + Core Value(s) + Tribe(s).

For example:

My Mission is to ______________, ___________________, and

_______________________
(insert three verbs here)

________________________(insert your core value(s) here)


to, for or with __________________________ (insert your tribe(s) here).



I look forward to hearing the results…..

Peace.


[edit on 27-6-2010 by DancedWithWolves]

This looks like right up my street since I am currently in recovery from spinal surgery and am at some kinf of crossroads in my life.

My brain has shut down and my eyes are quickly following so i'll have to come back tomorrow after some sleep and give it a bash.

Thanks and S&F

/spook

reply to post by DancedWithWolves


I will post my own!

My Mission is to accomplish, defend, and promote equality to, for or with all people of all religions of all views.

Kind of changed the ending 'a little', hahah.

Equality, I think, is one of the most important things!

Thank you for the thread.

Kind regards

reply to post by DancedWithWolves


Great idea!

My mission is to: understand, educate and direct; integrity, self-worth and wisdom; to both the wealthy and the poor.

Thanks!

Funny side: My Mission is to eat, poop and procreate as an exemplar of a typical human living on this planet.

Serious side: My Mission is to destroy old programmings, educate the lost souls and share a piece of my mind through humor and creative imagination.

[edit on 2010-6-27 by pikypiky]

Ok, well seeing as this is my first post on ATS your all going to judge me on what I say now but anyway heres my mission.


My Mission is to, generate, achieve and master, power, wealth and wisdom for myself.

Narcs

I am a very humble servant of the infinate,beloved Prime Creator. I am here to facilitate the divine plan and to maximize the positive Harvest. I am therefore in the Service Of Others, congruent with the will of the ONE. I extend a blessing of Love and Light to all with an open heart. Recieve it in the same manner. Know that we are all ONE, with each other, with all sentient beings and with our beloved CREATOR. Know that everything is sentient. Every particle is filled with the energy of the Divine.