Personal Mission Statement Part 4 - Mission

I have no idea what this means.

The problem with a mission statement is that it usually has nothing to do with everyday life. A lot of work goes in to crafting a mission statement and then it gets displayed to the world for a while as if it's some sort of monumental achievement and then it does nothing.

A mission statement encompasses vision and values. I've been sharing my process toward crafting a personal mission statement.

Ultimately, a mission statement gives you the ability to distinguish what you should or shouldn't be doing on a daily basis. Think of it like a color swatch that you can compare to what you're painting. You can check constantly to see if you have the right hue. All it takes is a glance to remind yourself of the basis of everything you should be doing.

The problem is that most mission statements are so wordy and cumbersome that they make it impossible to use as a check for daily activity. I think that most mission statements are trying to do too much, there's this idea that they need to encompass all the beliefs, values and vision as well as the mission. But if you have separate statements that cover those other topics, you can let your mission hone in on precisely what you need to be doing on a daily basis.

Remember, the vision tells you where you're going, the mission tells you how you're going to get there. My vision is: "To educate and inspire people to meaningful action that improves their lives."

To do that my mission is: "I learn so I can teach, lead to equip and live to create."

That tells me that today, the things I need to be most concerned with are learning, teaching, leading, equipping and creating. If something on my to-do list doesn't fit into those categories then it's not very important to achieving my vision and I should stop it or minimize my time doing it. I'm writing these words, at this moment to teach, lead and equip you. My minutes of typing will be worth it if I've inspired you to work on a mission statement that will guide your life.

So, did I waste my  time today?

Personal Mission Statement Part 3 - Vision

A vision for your future
I've been sharing my journey of creating a personal mission statement in the hopes that it might inspire you to do something similar for yourself or your organization. You can read about mission statements here and about core values here. Today it's all about vision; crafting a good, compelling vision can motivate, define your goals and give your mission a fine point.

Often the terms 'vision' and 'mission' are used interchangeably (I think this is mostly because people don't know why they should have either one). But the difference is compelling. Take, for example, the vision of Kairos Church Planting:

A nationwide movement of New Churches in New Places for New People growing from the heart and fellowship of Churches of Christ. 

This statement says where they are going. It's the reason for their existence and it provides a trajectory for all activity. It's a future oriented statement that coalesces the values and passions of the organization.

Their mission, on the other hand is:

To recruit, equip and support church multiplication leaders to plant new churches—that plant more new churches—and launch regional church planting networks.  

 The mission defines what they will do to accomplish the vision. The vision gives the what and the mission describes the how. A vision statement isn't specific on the time or the measurements used to define success, but it lends itself to those measurements and specifications. So Kairos wants to be:

•  "nationwide" -  that can be measured and defined in several ways
• "new churches, new places, new people" - this is the core of the vision and each can be given a metric - how many churches? what places? which people? in what time? 
• "Churches of Christ" - tells us the specific group of churches that will connect with these church plants. 

At the end of five or ten years, Kairos can look back on its vision and determine if they've been successful or not. They have a pre-defined, stationary target at which they're aiming.

My personal vision statement is:

I will educate and inspire people to meaningful action that improves their skills, marriages and obedience to Jesus.

This gives me some clear and objective ways to measure my personal success:

• Number of people I've mentored.
• Number of people who've heard my message.
• Through book sales, speaking engagements and blog posts
• Number of people familiar with my message.
• Activities inspired by my teaching. 

How will you know if you've achieved your vision? What are you aiming at today? 

Personal Mission Statement Part 2 - Values

Mission statements are a waste of time. That is, if no one in the organization wants to change or grow. Don't take the time to write your own mission statement or to craft a mission statement for your organization if you don't want to do anything differently. The truth is that you are doing exactly what you need to do to get the results that you're getting. Your organization is ideally suited to achieve what you've achieved.

But, if you want to do something different. If you want to see real change and movement toward a goal, then a mission statement can help. The idea is to balance description, prescription and prediction in one statement. What this often leads to is huge, messy, cumbersome paragraphs that try to encompass everything that a person or organization values. You can't do that in one statement and if you try, it'll be worse than useless. It's like packing your back for vacation - you can't take everything you have at home. You have to choose just what you need for the trip and leave the rest behind.

Start with figuring out your values. These are the things that you get passionate about that make you unique. Your beliefs underlie your values and may not be unique, but your values are the beliefs that keep coming up. When you find yourself gravitating toward certain topics or getting excited about specific actions, you can know that you're touching on your values. Spend some time writing down your skills, abilities and personality traits. What picture emerges for you?

Here are my values:

·         Understanding: Knowledge and intelligence are tools for personal and corporate change. Without taking time to understand an issue, a solution cannot be formulated. However, knowledge and intelligence must motivate action.
·         Experimenting: Trying different options is the best way to find the right one. The process of disciplined experimentation makes the end-product better. Without failure, progress is stunted and slow. All experimentation must happen in the context of understanding. It then adds to the understanding and provides fodder for further experimentation.
·         Inspiring: Deep understanding and refined experimenting must be shared with others and move them to action. Stasis is tantamount to death, aimless activity is not much better. Inspired, thoughtful, risk-taking action, however, can move individuals and organizations toward growth and health. 

Personal Mission Statement Part 1

I've been reading EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches by Dave Ramsey. It's the story of how he built a business from nothing but a card table in his living room into a multi-million dollar operation. It's the principles that have allowed him to run a business that honors both his customers and his team members (he doesn't call them employees because he wants people who are sold out to his mission).

One of the first steps recommended in the book is to write a personal mission statement. I've helped several churches craft mission statements, I've created a mission statement for my marriage, but I'd never written a personal mission statement. So on Saturday I took several hours and wrote out my mission, vision and values.

Every time I've walked with a church through the process of creating a mission statement I've said: "A good mission statement lets you say 'no' to good choices."

If you have a mission statement that actually reflects the unique mission of your organization, then you you can limit your involvement in activities to only those things that line up with your purpose. For example, if you run a thrift store, you should probably not get into the business of home remodeling. It's not a part of your mission, even though it may be a good thing.

Mission - is what you are going to do today to live the life you want to live. These are the tactics you will employ to achieve your goals. What you do may change, but your mission defines the parameters of what you do and describes how you're going to do it.

Vision - is where you are going in the future. This is the strategy you've decided on to achieve your goals. A vision is typically couched in broad language, but underlying each statement is a SMART goal. You can look back in 5 or 10 years and see that you've accomplished your vision because you've achieved the goals.

Values - are the core principles that outline your vision and undergird your vision. Values are more than just what you believe, they are what you get excited about. When someone challenges your values, you get angry. When someone is interested in your values, you get excited. You can't stop talking about your values and people know this about you. If you read off the list of your values, your closest friends and family should see a clear picture of you.

Have you worked on a personal mission statement? How has it helped you?

Note, the link to the book is an affiliate link and I earn a small commission on any purchases made through it.