Top Ten Benefits of a Personal Mission Statement

1. Significance in Your Life Most people like to conclude Top Ten lists with the most impacting point, but I need to start with this one because it truly is the #1 benefit that I hear from clients. We toil away at work and home every day, but what does it all add up to at the end of our lives? For those who have taken the time to seek their personal mission, their actions have meaning and significance. At the end of our lives, we all long to be able to say, "I did what I was created to do. I contributed to this world in a significant manner."

2. Clarity for Your Role in Life Circumstances We each have many different jobs to do every day. We are parents, employees, committee leaders, friends, spouses, and so on. But what do we contribute in each of those circumstances? Living true to our mission provides singular focus through all of these roles, eliminating confusion and emotional conflicts.

3. A Measuring Stick for Life Decisions Life's big decisions can be daunting? As much as we wish there was some bell that went off signaling that you have made the correct choice each time, there isn't. Your mission statement is the best tool to measure any large life choices. Does it support your mission?

4. A Magnet for Staying On Track in Life Just as the mission can be a measuring stick, it is also a magnet. Keeping our mission in the front of our minds helps to eliminate unproductive activities and puts first things first.

5. Ability To Communicate Clearly What You Bring To Personal and Professional Opportunities Your mission should be a single sentence that states what you are here to do. You should commit it to memory and be able to recite it at gunpoint. Having this clear concise statement available at will allows you to clearly tell others what you can do for them. Sometimes you only have about 10 seconds to get a prospective employers attention. This should do it.

6. Motivation to Do Your Best We can feel it when we are not behaving our best. At these times we tend to justify our actions to the circumstances. A mission statement, however, is larger than circumstances, and serves as personal commandment to re-center ourselves on purpose.

7. Maximize Your Talents Most of us have natural gifts and talents that we are modest about. Generally our mission calls to use all of these skills and requires that we use them for the benefit of others. Talents grow with use.

8. Strength to Stand Tall in the Fluctuating Winds of Change Life changes constantly. Sometimes we see it coming, and sometimes is sneaks up on us almost cruelly. Whether you lose your job, or your supportive manager is replaced with a difficult one. Whether your spouse remains or your children are grown and out of the nest. Your mission is greater than your role and the circumstances around it. Focusing on your mission in times of change provides a rock of stability and forward direction that brings peace and integrity to turbulent times.

9. Creates Action Rather Than Reaction Living in a reactive mode allows others to take the steering wheel of our lives. While we need to respond to life, we need to respond with intention. Living within our mission reminds us to choose the best course of action.

10. Attracts People and Opportunities That Support Your Life When we communicate our mission through words and actions, we will naturally attract those who support it. The more your authentically live your mission, the more those around you will be those who respect and support your actions.

Top Ten Benefits of a Personal Mission Statement - To learn more about this author, visit Andrea O'Neill's Website.

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