The powerful principles that guide successful organizations are equally transformative when applied to individual lives. Just as companies benefit from clear direction, you can harness the power of personal mission and vision statements to navigate your own path with purpose and clarity.

The Power of Personal Purpose. A personal mission and vision statement serves as your individual roadmap, communicating the direction you're headed and explaining why you choose certain objectives over others. These statements act as a vital "compass" for navigating personal goals and career paths, offering a framework for intentional living rather than reactive choices.

Such a statement encapsulates what you aspire to be, do, and have in your career and life, defining what success and excellence truly look like to you.

It's an articulation of your core essence, allowing you to establish what is truly important before embarking on a career or making significant life decisions. These statements provide profound inspiration, shaping your understanding of why you do what you do and motivating you to give your best. They help identify your core values and beliefs, which can then be used to assess new career opportunities and ensure alignment between your personal aspirations and an employer's values.

Charting Your Course: A Practical Guide Developing personal mission and vision statements is a reflective, multi-step process that fosters self-awareness and intentional direction:



1. Identify Past Successes: Reflect on four or five significant personal successes from various areas of your life (work, community, home). Document these achievements and identify common themes or underlying strengths that contributed to them.
2. Identify Your Core Values: List attributes that define who you are and what your priorities are. Narrow this down to five or six of the most important values, and then identify the single most important one. Consider what personal qualities you most want to emphasize and express.
3. Identify Your Contributions: Think about the ways you could make a meaningful difference to the world, your family, your employer, your friends, and your community.
4. Identify Your Goals and Envision Your Future: Consider your life priorities and personal goals, categorizing them as short-term (up to three years) and long-term (beyond three years). Visualize yourself five or ten years from now, imagining your ideal life or dream project. Be specific: Where are you? Who are you with? What are you doing? How are you feeling? What bigger impact are you having?. Exercises like describing your ideal day or imagining your 70th birthday and what you'd want a press release to say about your achievements can help.
5. Draft Your Personal Mission and Vision Statements: Based on these insights, draft your statements. Your mission should articulate what you wish to accomplish and contribute, while your vision should describe who you want to be—the character strengths and qualities you wish to develop. Aim for statements that are concise, inspirational, easy to memorize, clear, engaging, and realistic. They should state your intentions, summarize your values, and demonstrate your commitment to living by them.

Examples to Inspire You:

• Career-Focused Mission: "To simplify the complicated".
• Life-Focused Mission: "To be kind to others and myself".
• Career-Focused Vision: "To be the CEO of a firm that I start, that provides educational exercise experiences to K–6 schools. My company will improve children’s health and fitness, and create a lasting positive impact on their lives, and that of their children".
• Life-Focused Vision: "To be a decent person who is respected by family, friends, loved ones and my chosen communities. I am here to make a positive difference despite being imperfect. My work reflects my values and enables me to travel widely and enhance the lives of others. People will remember me for being there to lend a hand, keeping an open mind, and for getting involved in issues that matter most to me".

Remember, these statements are not rigid declarations but dynamic hypotheses about your purpose and aspirations. Review and adjust them annually to ensure they remain relevant to your evolving self and circumstances. By doing so, you empower yourself to navigate life with greater clarity, purpose, and fulfillment.