Saturday, March 17, 2007

Defining Our Mission in Life

There are a couple of thoughts that have been coming to mind recently. The first one is that "Those that stand for nothing will fall for anything;" the second, "If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there." To me, what this comes down to is having a life mission. So many of us spend our lives going through daily motions and routines, finally realizing many years later that we are unfulfilled and unhappy. In almost every case, the reason comes down to not having a mission in life, of not knowing what we stand for and where we are going. Developing a mission statement is easy, but it does take some time and commitment. There are many free resources to help anyone to develop a mission statement. My two favorite websites are Ethical Will and FranklinCovey. The Ethical Will website offers many ideas on how to write this powerful life statement, and even allows you to download their software for free. The FranklinCovey website has an interactive process that allows you to build a mission statement online (no other software required). You can find many others on the Internet. It is important to remember that: 1) you will need to invest time into this process; 2) you will revise the statement from time to time, so don't try to make it perfect the first time; 3) it is better to focus on what you want to be rather than on what you want to have. A mission statement and/or an ethical will should give you a clear picture of who you are, who you will be, and how you will be remembered by future generations.

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