I’ve been thinking about what I want my mission statement to be. So I started googling up some tips on how to come up with one. And I got things like “Well company mission statements are great to tell your customers about how great your product is! :D”
So far a lot of the examples I got for mission statements were about trying to make the world a better place, and how some company wants to create the best quality product. So, these didn’t give me too much inspiration since the first one seemed way too vague, and the second one wasn’t really relevant…
The goal of a mission statement is to think about what you want to be remembered for. I think it’s hard for kids (maybe also adults) to think about what they want to be remembered for, because of a few reasons:
They’re still trying to figure out themselves
Some things still feel a little too big
You don’t know how big and how broad you want your mission statement to be
They’re still trying to figure out themselves...
So for me at least, I’m probably changing every few months. So figuring out how I want people to remember me is kinda big. I guess it is good to have something to shoot for in the future, but at such an early stage, maybe the best mission statement would be, How can I get to a point that I can start thinking about who I want to be?
Now that I think about it, maybe that best thing to do is to sort out a more short term mission statement. And something a little more geared towards what I want to get out of life.
Some things still feel a little too big
I’m not entirely sure what I mean by this. But thinking about what I want to be remembered for doesn’t seem to be something that will be very beneficial until I figure out other things first. We’re all standing in the middle of infinite sprawling paths in front of us...and making a mission statement too big seems like pointing at a path and saying “I’m gonna go down that one!”
What I mean by things feeling a little too big is maybe I need to focus on some smaller things first. Or I can’t really wrap my head around the infinite sprawling paths and point down one. Maybe I just need to narrow down my paths. Perhaps your mission statement should help guide you down whatever path you’re taking, and how to make the most out of it.
I know that I want to support the people I care about and meet new people that help, support, and push me. And since there are so many things that I don’t know about, I don’t want to ignore the unknown paths, to head down the ones that seem great right now.
So maybe another mission statement is to discover new paths to widen your choices, and broaden your understanding of what could come, and how you want to make the most of it.
I guess that’s what I mean by some things feel a little big. Your mission statement could be to learn more about the world so your next mission statement can be better. Or you can take what you know now and decide what you want to do with it. Maybe the best thing to do would be to do both of them. I don’t know.
You don’t know how big or broad you want your mission statement to be
I don’t know what would be the best mission statement for me. How big it should be...my mission statement is to become famous and rule the world! Or how broad it should be...I’m gonna try to meet new people!
I was also thinking...maybe the mission statement should be about qualities you want people to remember you for like kindness and humbleness. But there are so many qualities that are important and beneficial that I’ll probably want to be all of them and my mission statement will end up looking like this…
So my mission statement is to be a kind, loving, considerate, hardworking, confident, humble, funny, knowledgeable, open minded, curious, passionate, innovative, outgoing, etc. etc. etc. person!
And my mission statement could very well be that...but I don’t think that would be very beneficial. Sure, everyday I could say to myself “I’m gonna be a kind, loving, considerate, hardworking, confident, humble, funny, knowledgeable, open minded, curious, passionate, innovative and outgoing person!” But how much would that really help me?
…
Different kinds of mission statements
So far I’m thinking there are five different mission statements...
One is about a quality about yourself you want to become…for example: My mission statement is to be a helpful person to anyone in need, especially the people I care about.
Another one is something you want to do...this can either go deep, or just something you want to accomplish...My mission statement is to finish building my fish tank in two months.
Third, is a general open ended mission statement to try and expose yourself to new people, new things, new cultures, new ideas, etc. Basically the point of this is not only to grow yourself but to help develop your understanding of the world so you can make better mission statements in the future...My mission statement is meet new people in many different fields to get a broader perspective of our world.
Fourth, you want to do certain things to develop things such as mindfulness, physical health, and contentment… My mission is to meditate every day for ten minutes and to try and improve my gratefulness of the things that I have.
The last one that I’m going to mention here since all there are a lot of different kinds of mission statements is trying to improve on your weaknesses. For example...let's say you interrupt people too much, this could be your mission statement...My mission statement is to be aware of the times I interrupt people so I can apologize quickly. This one doesn’t have the three setbacks I mentioned earlier since it is pretty straightforward and is just about improving yourself.
And now that I think about it...there are probably a lot more different kinds of mission statements.
Mission statements probably mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Personally, writing this out helped me think through it more. And I think that I want my mission statement to be something I know will always be beneficial. This wouldn’t include choosing something I want to be because it would rule out other possibilities which could come with some downsides.
When it comes down to choosing a mission statement for myself I think I’m going to choose:
Help grow the people around you
This doesn’t have to define who I am and I know that the skill of growing the people around me will always be beneficial to me no matter what I’m doing. Perhaps as my understanding of the world grows and my familiarity with who I am is more set in stone my mission statement can move from goals for improving myself, to how I want to be remembered. But I don't think I'm ready to take that leap yet.