“Love what you do and do what you love. Don't listen to anyone else who tells you not to do it. You do what you want, what you love. Imagination should be the center of your life.”
— Ray Bradbury
I believe mission alignment to be THE most important factor in job satisfaction and professional success. A person just cannot be /his/her best self if he/she is not working at a job that does not feel like a good fit. As I planned out my first book I knew that I wanted to discuss the importance of creating a personal mission statement as well as aligning that personal mission statement to the mission of the organization in which you work.
Imagine waking up every morning and not knowing what to do with your day. To be clear, I don’t mean waking up without a plan – I mean that you would have no idea what you should do with your life. Your mission is what gets you out of bed in the morning; it is what motivates you to be the best version of yourself. Your mission should drive all that you do, in all aspects of your life.
Organizations have mission statements that guide their work. The school that I founded has the following mission, “To provide an enriched and rigorous education through the humanities and arts integration leading to success in college, careers, and life.” We read that mission every morning as a reminder of why we come together every day. There is no ambiguity in the wording, “We come to school to get our students ready for a successful future by challenging and enriching them in our classrooms.”
Wouldn’t it be cool if we walked around with our own mission statements plastered on us? There would be no room for interpretation. In the t-shirt image above I think the mission is pretty clear. The wearer of the shirts wants to spread positivity, show love and make connections with others.
If I wore my mission on my t-shirt, it would read something like, “Live a life of love and joy that leaves a lasting impact on others.” Having my mission statement on my shirt would leave no room for error, would it? As a leader, if I constantly made people unhappy or failed to properly balance my work schedule and leave room for family time, I couldn’t claim to live my mission.
Obviously, we don’t wear our mission statements, but the way we act as leaders determines what others think our mission is. It is important to understand what motivates us as leaders, what we value and why we do our work. This can be accomplished by writing a personal mission statement.
So, what would be on your t-shirt?
To learn how to write your personal mission statement and other lessons on leadership get your FREE copy of my book HERE.
In love and friendship,
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