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MissAnthrope's avatar

What is your personal mission statement?

Asked by MissAnthrope (21511points) January 8th, 2011

I spent today on an all-day meditation retreat and one of the exercises, near the end, was to write out a personal mission statement. Much like a company states its purpose in a mission statement, a personal one is about how you want to live your life.

The teacher read a speech by Steve Jobs and talked about how he checks in with himself daily to make sure he’s in alignment with his personal mission statement. Jobs said that when he goes three days without being able to answer that yes, he is living his purpose and happy, it is time for self-reflection and re-alignment.

I’d love for you to take a moment and think about it. Who are you? What do you need? What are your gifts? What is your purpose? What is your personal mission statement?

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23 Answers

syz's avatar

Hmmm. Mine would have to be something along the lines of “I will do my best, I will be a good person, and I’ll stand up for what I believe in. And I’ll be sure to have some fun along the way.”

MissAnthrope's avatar

I will live every day as honestly and positively as possible. To be one star in the blackness, shining, radiating love, compassion, genuineness, kindness, and justice upon everyone I meet. To live with purpose and in balance, to pay forward with my actions what I hope to manifest in my own life. To surround myself with a community of kind, gentle, like-minded people. To help others and to alleviate suffering wherever I find it. To find ways to spread the boundless love overflowing from my heart. To remember that I am beautiful and my duty is to share this beauty with the world.

wundayatta's avatar

Well, I haven’t really thought about it, and I’m not sure I like the idea, but a few thoughts come to mind. They don’t seem to fall easily into the glossy sentences one usually finds in a mission statement.

I want to connect to others at that wordless level and I want to be a guide for others in finding that connection. I want to communicate my vision/expression of empathy and understanding for others by explaining what goes on inside our heads and souls in a way that gets at the complexity and opens it up and makes it easier for others to see.

I want to connect music and dance and words so as to provide a way for others to gain a deeper understanding of their lives and communities and the world.

I want to experience as much love as possible in my life—with my wife and children, and with others.

I want to be a good friend. I want to learn how to feel other people’s love and appreciation for me. I want to believe it, and stop questioning it all the time.

I want to do what I can to make the world a better place, where there is less poverty, and less conflict and less damage to our environment. I want to leave the world as good a place as I can for my children and their generation and generations to follow.

So jumbled and incoherent. I suppose it’s a starting place. But it needs a lot of work.

MissAnthrope's avatar

@syz – Perfect! You sound like a great person. Thank you. :)

@wundayatta – That was wonderful and exactly what I was looking for. I don’t know how to phrase it any better. To me, a mission statement is a statement of purpose and intent, and it’s a positive thing. In business, it’s the ideal a company holds itself to. In terms of my purpose and my day-to-day operations, my statement is the ideal I hold myself to. ‘Mission’... well, I just this moment realized that I like that part because it touches on my feeling like it’s a calling. Like, who I am and/or who I’m meant to be, and what I do with the tools I’ve been given.

I’m tired and kind of drained, so I hope that made sense.

Rarebear's avatar

Always tell the truth. Never lie.

Mamradpivo's avatar

Remember: it’s only a movie.

tinyfaery's avatar

Hmm. To do as much as I can to cause as little damage as I can to the earth, and every living thing on it. To live my life as authentically as possible, being exactly who and what I am.

Hawaii_Jake's avatar

Don’t take yourself too seriously.

Cruiser's avatar

Live each day like there is no tomorrow! ;)

DrasticDreamer's avatar

To live, love and experience almost everything… Without intentionally hurting anyone or anything. To never lie, and try to surround myself with people who will never lie to me.

Cruiser's avatar

@spidermonkey019 s’OK! I can share!!! There is plenty of moonlight left before tomorrow!

incendiary_dan's avatar

As an animal who requires the death of other creatures (plant, animal, and fungi) to live, my mission is to live in a way in which those deaths keep ecological balance in my landbase, and that I fulfill the responsibilities to those creatures I eat to live. Aside from that, do what I can to “deny the rich the ability to steal from the poor, and deny the powerful the ability to destroy the world” (to quote one of my favorite authors).

I basically fail at this most of the time.

ucme's avatar

@spidermonkey019 That’s a pretty decent one!

BoBo1946's avatar

To live one day at a time and be nice to every person I meet ! And never abandon my Faith… regardless.

MissAnthrope's avatar

Very nice. :)

janbb's avatar

First, do no harm.

JilltheTooth's avatar

Live strong, with grace.
Deal with honor, sleep at night.

flutherother's avatar

Remember to be kind.

mattbrowne's avatar

Be the change you want to see.

philosopher's avatar

I advocate for my autistic son and people like him.

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