My mission statement is, “I make a conscious effort on a daily basis to improve my life and the lives of people around me.”

I created this mission statement back in 2003 and it has served me well. Over the years I have received push back from individuals saying that it doesn’t quite fulfill all the necessary components of a mission statement or that it is too broad and vague. And they might be right, but it has provided clarity for me.

The questions that I built my mission statement around are

What can I achieve today?

How can I be better today?

Who can I help today?

The reason I share this with you is that my mission statement provides me with a filter for my daily activities.

What is your mission?

Take some time this week to make a list of what is important to you and then evaluate your current activities and see if they align with your list.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself that can help guide you.

How would you want your family to describe you?

How does your life look ten years from now?

What are you good at?

What are your values?

What makes you happy?

These questions are only an initial guide that will hopefully bring you closer to writing a personal mission statement. A good tool for personal mission statement is the Stephen Covey principle of ‘begin with the end in mind.’ He describes it as, how would you like to be remembered at your funeral.

I find that having a personal mission statement to guide my life helps me respond better to everyday situations and hopefully writing your own will help you too.