A couple of months ago, I shared the process of writing my personal mission statement on the blog. I started by defining my personal core values, translated that into my personal mission statement and followed through by making guidelines and goals.

At the time I used a Dutch website that guides that process and gives examples of the values and mission statements of other people. Although it’s important to really connect to your own values and define your own mission statement, examples are a great way to get inspired. They also can open your eyes to areas of your life that you may have unwillingly left out.

My blogging friend Stephen of Productivity in Context came up with the idea of building a list of personal mission statements, and asked several fellow bloggers to participate. So this post is an attempt to build a list of examples of mission statements of the readers of How to be an Original. But I’m also very interested to know how you use them, or why you’re not making one.

Have it or hate it? … personal core values, mission statements?

Do you have … (or hate)

• Personal core values?
• A personal mission statement?
• A guiding principle?

How do you use them …

• All the time in everyday life?
• Only when the going gets really tough?
• Only on new years eve?

I’ll kick off with mine in the comments…

On Tuesdays I write about Living my Legend. This section is inspired by The Alchemist and is an account of my journey of living my potential.

In this article I will be detailing my mission statement into guidelines and goals. But first a quick recap of the previous two articles.

My five personal core values are:

Love - Fun - Freedom - Authenticity - Growth

They are the basis for my mission statement:

I, Lodewijk van den Broek, love life and have a lot of love to give. I enjoy authentic growth and I help others to grow. I’m here to have lots of fun and enjoy my freedom in comfort and vitality.

Why make guidelines and goals?
My values define what I want to experience in this life, and my mission works as a compass to point me in the right direction. These are fairly static, they will not change very often and changes will most likely be minor. To be of practical use on a day to day basis, they need to be translated into workable guidelines and goals, that can be more dynamic and adapt to changing circumstances.

Guidelines are ‘rules’ I want to live by, that find their roots in my mission statement and in my personality. They can be formulated ambitiously, meaning that I may not live by those rules yet. Goals are simply what they are: goals. Things I want to achieve, formulated in a SMART way.

And with the guidelines and goals, I can define habits changes, projects and actions to start working on getting them done, to attain my goals and live by my guidelines. Click to continue »

On Tuesdays I write about Living my Legend. This section is inspired by The Alchemist and is an account of my journey of living my potential.

Values to mission statement

Last week I wrote about my five personal core values. These values are the things I want to experience in my life. They are the foundation for a mission statement for my life, a timeless translation of who I am and what I want to experience in my life. It gives a sense of direction, quite like a compass, when faced with difficult decisions.

My five personal core values need to be reflected in my mission statement. They are what I want to experience, so if I make a compass to guide me, I should use these values to direct me in the right direction. In the article about my values I already gave away some hints as to how the values give me energy:

• I need love and have a lot of love to give
• I’m here to have lots of fun
• Freedom is a value that’s really strong within me
• The things I do, think and say are in connection with who I am
• I aim for growth in most aspects of my life

Click to continue »