Create your Personal Vision and Mission Statement
What is a vision statement?
Your vision statement is the flowery, abstract, concepts and goals you want to see happen in your life or business. It is the dream. I will use poeticrevival.com’s vision statement as an example. Poetic Revival is a faith based poetry site and their vision statement is:
“To see the Glory of God spread like a wildfire over drought stricken land; where the heat from fiery flames awaken dormant seeds, to grow with new life from the ashes.”
This vision statement paints a picture; you can see a raging wildfire exploding across the forest. The fire turns the thick forest into a black smoldering wasteland scene. Then we see the green shoots of new life begin to grow from the ashes of the seeming wasteland.
It is a great picture, that gives us a vision of what Poetic Revival wants to happen in the world… but it doesn’t tell us how we are going to accomplish our vision.
What is a mission statement?
A Mission statement tells the actions you will take and the tools you will use to accomplish your vision. It expresses the “what” and the “how” you will utilize to see the dream happen. Once again let us look at Poetic Revival and their mission statement.
“Bring Revival through spoken word, poetry, verse. Using web, print, audio, and visual avenues to expand minds, encourage hearts and inspire change.”
- What they are bringing: “Revival through spoken word, poetry, verse.”
- How they will deliver it: “Using web, print, audio, and visual avenues”
How to create your vision statements:
Picture your funeral… see each group of people that is in your life. Your spouse, your family, your co-workers, your church, your communities, your customers…. What did you do with your limited time on Earth?
- What do you want each of those groups to say about you?
- What mark do you want to leave on this world when you are gone?
- How are you going to make the world a better place?
In your answers to these questions you will begin to find your vision.
Creating your mission statement:
Evaluate the following three areas:
- Skills and talents (what are you good at?)
- Opportunities (who do you know, where do you have credibility, what can you do?)
- Passions (what gets your motor running, what you love doing?)
The collision of these 3 areas is where your current mission should be focused. If you are there it is time to create a plan to move to those areas. That is where you will most likely find your most success.
Your current mission is not a forever thing. As you move up your mountain of success you may see other opportunities open, develop new skills, or find new passions to purse. Then you should revisit your vision and mission.
Do you want help developing vision and mission statements then create a plan to pursue? I am here to walk you through the process of find your mountain of success. Fill out the form below to find out more and jump-start your life with life coaching!
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Should You have a Personal Vision Statement?
The vast majority of us desire to reach a pinnacle of success. This usually requires years of hard work and climbing to reach your desired high point. If you “started with the end in mind” what do you want to accomplish before your life is over?
I want you to picture yourself at the bottom of a cliff face. You want to reach the top, so you start climbing. After several hours you have reached a small cave in the cliff face. You rest for the night and keep pushing higher. You are caught in violent rainstorms with driving wind, but nothing will stop you.
The drive for success keeps pushing you higher. The goal of reaching the peak drives you on. Others who started the journey with you are so far behind you can’t even see them anymore. After weeks the cliff face begins to finally mellow out. The storm clouds are now below you. You can see your pinnacle!
As the dawn rises you look across the canyon and see all the other cliff faces you could have chosen to climb. In the beginning you just started climbing the cliff face in front of you. Never pausing to look around at what other cliffs you could have climbed.
After years of effort you reach your pinnacle and realize…. You climbed the wrong cliff. You are not where you want to be. You are on the wrong side of the canyon.
Many people climb the mountain of success only to realize at the end of their life they climbed the wrong mountain.
Having well-developed vision and mission statements can be a guide. Your vision statement can ensure you are on the right pathway of success. You life will probably change and you get to revisit your vision and mission. Then you get to adjust them to your life changes.
You Vision and Mission statements can be a foundation for success in your life. You will know why you are climbing and what you hope to have at your pinnacle.
Are you climbing the right cliff?
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Start poorly and learn fast
This is a response to Robyn Smith’s article where she mentioned “anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.” Often we don’t really learn how to do something well until we start doing it.
Before I started investing in stocks I spent 1 year researching and doing mock portfolios. I read books, watched CNBC. I read financials and research reports. None of that really prepared me for actually investing my hard earned money into the Stock market.
I learned more in the first 6 month of investing with my money, than I did in my entire year of research. There was nothing to prepare me for the emotional aspects of investing in the market. I reacted so different when it was my money on the line.
I have been in and out of the market for about 12 years since my initial foray. I am a much better investor. I have a greater understanding of how markets work. Over my first year of investing I spent (lost) about $1,500. If I had never started, I would have never had this understanding.
Just Start Already
I started poorly, but learned vital principles that have saved and made me (and my parents) some substantial sums of money since. (Full disclosure: one of the key things I learned is; invest first in assets where you have more control over the risks)
If you really have a passion for something… Start doing it. I recommend the book “Start” by Jon Acuff if you are looking for additional reasons to Start. It is great for helping you start no matter where you are currently in your life.
Once you start, constantly learn and grow. Don’t stop just because it gets hard, or you lose a little money. Those initial losses are sometimes the cost of your education. The profits come after you have learned those lessons. Take what you have learned to move toward greatness.
Question:
What has held you back from Starting?
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What is an hour of you time worth?
Do you know what happened to your 168 hours last week
If you had one hour to live; how much would you pay for another hour?
This is a continuation of a previous article “Are Money and Time equal.” I am painfully aware that I am not using my time as wisely as I could. I hope this exploration will encourage you and me to value our time properly.
Generally humans are terrible assessors of risk. (Ways we get the odds wrong). In the same way most of us are terrible at valuing our time. We think we save money by “doing it ourselves.” Often we end up paying ourselves a slave wage to save that money.
I used to change my own oil. I used a Motorcraft filter and Motorcraft synthetic blend motor oil. I would go to the store pick up the oil, travel to my father’s, get his tools out, and change the oil. It cost me $28-$34 in materials, plus my time, and my mileage. The whole process took about 2 hours.
My office is next door to a Ford Dealership. During tax season, I had them change the oil for me. They walked to my office picked up the vehicle. They used the same materials I did. They charge me $33 to $37 to change the oil.
So how much was I paying myself to change my oil? I was paid somewhere between $0.00 and $9 for 2 hours of my time.
At best that is $4.50 per hour.
It is easy to value time in that example, but how valuable is an hour with your wife? Children? Or others you care about?
There is a story about a little boy whose father worked very hard. The father was always focused on making money. The boy asked his father “How much do you make an hour?” The father replies $50/hr. The son goes into his room breaks into his piggy bank, seeing he only has $25 he asks his mom for $25. At first she says no, but the boy keeps persisting until she relents.
With $50 in hand the boy goes to his father. He then asks his father “Can I buy an hour of your time? I have $50.” The father is crushed.
The father realizes in that moment money and time are not equal.
You can never buy more time with the ones you love. Those hours can’t be priced. Yet, if all you did was spend time with them would you value that time at all? We need balance!
We all have various areas of our life that require our time. Are we budgeting our 168 hours each week in a way that reflects the importance of those areas in our life?
We often budget our money (which we can always get more money). But do we budget our time? Our time is a finite commodity.
What does your typical allocation of weekly hours look like?
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