What is your mission statement?

In my Management of Human and Family Resources class, we just finished reading Covey's book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Now when I say we, that we does not include me. When it comes to this book, I have procrastinated like no other. So instead of being proactive (Covey's first habit), and instead of putting first things first (Habit 3) I ended up being reactive to the fact that I have an exam on this book, and doing things at the last minute.

WELL NO MORE! I picked up the book for the past few days and read it religiously. I wasn't doing it because I had some silly test, I started reading it because I wanted to be a better person, and wanted to make changes in my life. Covey's 7 habits is some pretty insightful stuff.

With that in mind, I decided to write a mission statement, much like the one described in Covey's book. A mission statement is based on your deepest core values, or principles. A mission statement will never change, because your principles will never change. Once I wrote my mission statement, I had a clear vision of my roles, my obligations, and what my responsibilities were. In fact, here is a part of my mission statement:

"I establish myself as a self-reliant individual that regularly takes time off for herself. I am an indispensable asset of this world. Because of this, I tend to my emotional, mental, and physical well-being. Doing this ensures that I can successfully fulfill my other roles in life. I honor promises I make to myself, and therefore, I value promises made to others. I find pleasure in life’s non materialistic things, and draw on my Indian culture for strength and identity. I remind myself not to take advantage of the little things in life. More importantly, I laugh more than I cry, and smile more than I frown. I accept my flaws. Finally, I deal with failures in a way that tells me things will get better.

With that in mind, think about your own personal mission statement. What type of person do you want to be. Remember to focus on your principles! When you are clear with what your principles are, start to write your statement out. Trust me, once you are finished, you will have a sense of direction and empowerment.