Priorities and a Personal Mission Statement

Each of us has a mental list of what is most important in life. Occasionally, we will get off track. We fill our lives with many different paths, projects, and people. We get caught up in too many details and things to remember and keep track of. We can spend a lot of energy in so many areas that we lose sight of what is at our core of our focus.

Sometimes it helps to streamline. We may have many things happening, but if they all can fit into a few large categories, it may feel as though our efforts continue to stay in one place, with some tasks possibly overlapping so that it's as if we have one to two "trees" with small branches all coming from the same trees, rather than ten different trees.

Sometimes we simply need to re-evaluate and cut out some of the things in our lives that are taking too much effort. Even if it's only mental effort, it can still be draining.

Be cautious when debating whether or not to cut down on personal interests or reacreational activities. These tend to be the first to go, as they may seem like a luxury. However, these activities actually help restore all of our motivation and energy that we apply to other commitments and obligations. Personal time deserves a top slot on the list of priorities.

Occasionally we feel as though we don't even know what we we're striving for or what is important to us. Throughout life these things can slightly change as well. Take a few minutes to do a personal mission statement. It helps to solidify your role and your purpose in this life and allows everything else to fall into place behind that statement.

A way to jumpstart your personal mission statement is on this Franklin-Covey website. It has a few questions to give you some root words that you then turn into sentences.

A personal mission statement can be one sentence or one paragraph. Make it meaningful to you.