Creating a personal mission statement is probably the most effective long term focus machine you can build for yourself that directs you towards success and growth. It allows for you to stay focused, and remind yourself periodically (when you’re most in need) on what you want to stay focused on.

So, to start I brainstorm what it is that I want to accomplish, what are my goals. Take a moment to read about how to set effective goals, but this process of writing the mission statement will also focus your goals allowing you to then find more ‘WOW’ goals. This is critical to keeping yourself motivated and directed towards them.

After you have written down your goals, break them down into sub goals, either point form or get right to sentences about how you’re going to achieve these goals. Think about what specific activities you have to focus on in order to achieve them, like lift weights for 20 minutes a day, read a book for 30 min before bed every night, etc. This way you have a specific goal that doesn’t leave much up for interpretation.

I also like to keep my mission statement tidy. I organize it like a formal report, with a table of contents, and headings, even including a title page, although the content is very personal and not necessarily formal. I like to keep it in a way that it will not be boring for me to read. I will even insert some funny jokes or slang so next time I read it I will be in a good mood.

I find that referring to this personal mission statement on a at least quarterly basis is extremely beneficial for myself. It helps remind me of what I’m focused on, and it also helps me to see what I was aimed at then, and how it has changed now. I am never afraid of editing the document. I may see spelling or grammar, but I will also see things that have changed, and I alter them in the mission statement.

I keep remembering a quote from Gandhi, where he says: “If there is an instance where I have been strongly for a certain topic, and later I learn that the knowledge that I was basing my stance on wasn’t in fact true, or has become more learned, then I will be the first to admit I was wrong, and immediately change my position on the subject.” This is just common sense to me!

Do you have another way that you use to help you stay focused on your goals? I’d love to hear about them.