Monday, January 15, 2018

My Personal Mission Statement

I read a ton of blogs every day and listen to several podcasts, and I love to make connections.  The Minimalists have a great podcast on setting personal priorities and setting values for your life.  The Edit Your Life Show also did a great one about writing a mission statement for your life.  I combined the two and made my family mission statement a priority list.

The idea is that you identify things that align with your own values - are you an environmentalist, a vegan, a scientist, an educator? Center your statements around your core values.  Then, think about your deepest priorities, to yourself, your kids, your spouse, your world. How do you connect your values to those categories?

You don't have to have any grand statements. It's great if you want to save the world, but that is not going to happen in a day.  The mission statement or priority list is more of a guide to help you every day.  I pick up my trash at the park because I want to set a good example for my kids of being a good citizen. I take my vitamins to try to keep my body healthy.  I clean the cat box to maintain a pleasant home environment.  I would do all those things anyway, but because I align them with my priorities, the take on intention. There is more power in it because when I clean the cat box or all the other cleaning project, it becomes the goal of "a pleasant and healthy home environment," not just a clean cat box!

My priorities:

  • Raise kids to be good global citizens
  • Encourage and support husband and his goals
  • Keep a pleasant and healthy home environment
  • Keep my mind active and my self even
The added benefit of calling these priorities is that, over time, priorities change.  That's ok.  These work for me now, but when I go back to work, I will need to revisit and change them.  Life isn't static, so having priorities change is normal. One of my 2018 goals was to review these to make sure they still work and so far, they do.  It is a good idea to regularly review them, as a reminder too!

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