I recently read an article in Glamour magazine written by Bethenny Frankel titled “You Need a Personal Mission Statement.” Upon reading I was inspired to write my own mission statement. After doing some digging to help authenticate my own, I found this very helpful website created by FranklinCovey (a company modeled in part on the writings of Benjamin Franklin, and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, based on Covey’s research). The website offers an easy to use questionnaire system that helps focus your thoughts and pinpoint your goals and desires for your own life. You can choose to do one for yourself and even one for your family. Not only is it fun, but the way the questions are read back to you at the end illuminates a better understanding of who you are and the specifics of what you want for your life. It’s fun to do with your spouse and children too! Click this link: http://www.franklincovey.com/msb/ (“Build Yours Now”)
Bethenny Frankel Says You Need a Personal Mission Statement (Glamour Magazine article)
When I was a contestant on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, I was dying to win. I was sure it would launch my career and save me from failure and poverty, but I only made runner-up—meaning no job, no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It was a low moment: My life wasn’t where I wanted it to be, and the rent was coming due. So I decided I would make chicken salad out of chickensh*t. That I would determine my future. I told myself, You are destined for something special. But no one can do it for you, and no one can save you. You have to save yourself. This became my mission statement, and it meant that whether I was hawking pashminas and trying to be an actress or managing a failing health-food restaurant and testing recipes on the side, I was sticking to my mission to support myself on my terms. I was on track.
We all know that life is about the journey, but having a destination in mind gives a sense of order, structure and, crucially, calm. Plenty of people have a mission statement, even if they don’t call it that. My friend Ellen DeGeneres seems to live by “Be kind. Be unique. Make the impossible happen.”
So think about what you want. It doesn’t matter how you come to it: Meditate, jot down what’s important, go to therapy. Tell everyone or write it on a piece of paper and bury it in the ground. Just live your mission in your own way, and try to see everything you do as a part of it. Then when your job feels like a dead end, you’ll know it’s just a bump. Or if some guy breaks your heart, your mission—having a supportive partner and father for your kids—will remind you that you had been barking up the wrong tree anyway. Set a solid course for yourself. Then embrace everything life hands you—and when in doubt, consult your mission statement. It has the answer.*
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