This is an add on article for those creating a Personal Mission Statement, that speaks about the importance of making principles and values the base of your Statement and your self!

The idea of a Personal Mission Statement is to give us the chance to clearly form, then to start using as a constant guide for living, the vision we have for our life. At the very base of that, there needs to be a solid and unshakable foundation upon which the rest can be built. It is important to consider that base as you write your Mission Statement. There are lots of things that can seem a good basis for this vision of you. Family, relationships, career, money, possessions, pleasure, church, friend/ enemy, or self. And many people use just such relationships as their base, directing what they do, how they do it, and why. Or they may change from one base to another with the flow of life.

However, the problem with all the above relationships, and “things” as a base, is that they are not stable. Relationships of all types change, evolve and end. Pleasure, money and possessions can come and go with events. So, as a stable basis for your Mission Statement (and your self) they don’t really support you all through life. What Stephen Covey suggests in his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, where the whole concept of the Mission Statement came from for me, is that we need a basis in principles. Life values, core beliefs, personal truths by which to guide our lives, our actions.

Principles as a basis to you, and all you do, gives you a wonderful sense of security, as they are not vulnerable to change, like the other before mentioned bases are. Principle do not change their mind, have a change of heart or die. They are not dependent on your financial position, the car you drive, or the job you hold. Principles aren’t eve effected by natural disasters such as flood or earthquakes! By finding, identifying, committing to a set of principles we have a stable, non-changing and secure foundation for ourselves. This gives us the knowledge and direction we need to make all choices, big and small, in our life. It also provides us with confidence and strength to make those choices and to take action based upon them.

As you write your Mission Statement, please consider the very base beliefs you wish to live by. These may be those you have always lived by, and still hold true. Or it may be a time to reassess those values. You may feel comfortable with a set of religious values, or a collection of individual values, such as Human Rights, acceptance, treating everyone equally, love, respect, bravery, openness to knowledge/learning, growth, benevolence, spirituality, grace, thankfulness, or a sense of wonder.

How: It can be difficult to come up with your base principles, and some prompting can really help get you started. Put the term “list values” into an internet search engine to find lists and lists of ideas and pointers for a principles guide. Sense which ones feel right to you. They will probably feel as though you recognise them, like they are familiar to you. Or they may excite you. There doesn’t need to be a lot of them to give you your base, but there should probably be at least three: One that defines how you treat others. One that describes how you look on life, and one that is how you interact with the world. When your principles are in place, they guide and empower all the other things you may want to include in your Mission Statement: family, friends, work and home. These relationships are still important and valuable, but will now be strengthened by your personal base principles. What principles lead you? What do your really believe?

I hope you are excited and interested in creating this Mission Statement for yourself. It is a gift to know who you are, what you believe, and how you plan to move forward. Give it to yourself – then let me know about it in the comments!