Writing a Mission Statement
Step-By-Step

Writing a mission statement is a challenging process that requires some dedicated time. However, if you first prepare the building blocks and then follow the step-by-step process, you will arrive at a very powerful expression of who you are. This clarity will be crucial in crafting the career you really want.

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The Building Blocks:

There are three components to have in place before you begin:

Who Are You? – These are your top careers values;

What Do You Do? – This is your context in terms of skills, talents, and experience;

Where Are You Going? – This is designing careers around how you can optimally express your values through your skills and talents.

The Step-by-Step Process

Once the building blocks are in place it is time to bring them together and start writing your mission statement. The steps are:

1. Finding life purpose by putting these together in different combinations until you find out what resonates most for you;
2. Writing until you find the simple and concise words to express your purpose;
3. Making the decision to commit to your mission statement;
4. Developing your mission statement continuously.

There are a few distinctions that it may be useful to bear in mind whilst going through this process:

Career Objectives vs Mission Statements:

Career objectives are specific and measurable outcomes that you can achieve. In contrast a mission statement is a vision. It may contain your present goals but the intent behind it is much larger than yourself. Your personal mission statement is the purpose behind the achievements. It is what will continue to inspire people about your life after you are gone.

Being Specific:

The temptation with mission statements is to keep them vague, eg “My mission is to be loving.”. Whilst this may express your values it fails to bridge the gap between who you are, what you do and your purpose.

How much more powerful would it be as “My mission is to be loving as a therapist and a mother so as to spread joy to those around me.”?

The more specific you are about the roles you adopt and the vision you embody the more powerful and inspiring your mission statement will be.

Troubleshooting:

There are often lots of internal barriers that create a fog of frustration and fear when coming to writing a mission statement. You might find it useful to see a sample mission statement sample mission statement being analysed.

This is a simple process. The difficultly lies in the epic clarity needed to bring all the building blocks together in a unified purpose. The building blocks and step-by-step process provide a map to keep you on track. You are done writing a mission statement when just reading it makes you feel more alive!

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