Benefits of a Mission Statement: 3 Questions That Will Help You Create a Personal Mission Statement by Rabbi Simon Jacobson

A desire for a fresh start after the turmoil of 2020 created a renewed interest in resolutions, but will Americans be able to achieve their goals? Successful change requires getting in touch with your “why,” and the best way to do that is to create a personal mission statement.

Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, I've worked to bring healing and empowerment to hundreds of thousands of people, teaching them to transform disruption into opportunity and fear into resilience. The key to finding strength in times of upheaval and uncertainty is to uncover the meaning of your life, including the difficulties you face. Developing your own personal mission statement defines and focuses your life and helps you address the roots of your challenges instead of symptoms, and be proactive instead of reactive. Here are three questions to get you started:

1. What are you passionate about?
2. What skills and personality traits (innate or gained) are dominant in your life?
3. What personal experiences and unique opportunities have you been given?
   

Here are four benefits of embracing your personal mission:

• Joy: Overcome feelings of anxiety, frustration, sadness, aimlessness and anger.

• Clarity: Guide your decisions, priorities, actions and responsibilities.

• Focus: Unify opposing pressures and distractions pulling you in many directions.

• Motivation: Get out of survival mode and take control of your life in 2021.

A mission statement must be directed not to your personal gain, but to a higher goal. The common thread in every mission statement is its overarching goals are for the common good. Your mission needs to focus on the end, not on the means, and on the why, not on the how.

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