Your Life Purpose/ Mission Statement and Values

Your Life Purpose and Core Values

I believe that we were all sent here for a reason and that we all have significance in the world. I genuinely feel that we are all blessed with unique gifts. The expression of our gifts contributes to a cause greater than ourselves.

What am I chasing after? Why am I chasing it? What is my purpose? Why was I put here?

Begin by listing all the things that are most important to you. Write down all the things you want to do. Create a personal mission statement. Decide that whatever venture you commit to must align with your personal mission, values and goals. For every new opportunity that comes along, ask yourself how it aligns with your mission, values, and goals. If the venture does not align with where you want to be, then do not pursue it.

“Writing or reviewing a mission statement changes you because it forces you to think through your priorities deeply, carefully, and to align your behavior with your beliefs”

Goals
1) Come up with your own personal mission/ life purpose statement
2) Create a list of your top 5 to 10 core values

Try one of these visualization exercises, writing down your findings when you are done.

Vividly picture the day of your funeral. Take a minute to visualize the details. Who is there? There are people giving speeches and talks about you and your life. What do they say? What do you hope they say? How do you want to be remembered? What do you want your eulogy to consist of? What would your lifetime achievements be? What would matter the most at the end of your life? Is it what you are doing right now?

Or
You are now 90 years old, sitting on a rocking chair outside your porch; you can feel the spring breeze gently brushing against your face. You are blissful and happy, and are pleased with the wonderful life you’ve been blessed with. Looking back at your life and all that you’ve achieved and acquired, all the relationships you’ve developed; what matters to you most? List them out.

Or
I would go beyond this and say, "you are living in the afterlife and are looking back on your life with Jesus by your side, what would you like your life to look like? What would Jesus like your life to look like? Why? What were the most significant things about who you were? What were the most significant things that you did? What were your most significant relationships?"

The answers to the questions are indicators of our key values and our life mission.


Creating a Life Purpose Statement (God made me in this way- created)/ Personal Mission Statement (I’m going to be who God made me to be- for good works)

Stephen Covey’s Mission Statement Builder (click here) is a good resource for getting started on our mission statement and values.

Or Steve Pavlina’s method on “How to discover your life purpose in about 20 minutes” is another simple way to get in touch with your own calling.

"If you want to discover your true purpose in life, you must first empty your mind of all the false purposes you’ve been taught including the idea that you may have no purpose at all.

So how to discover your purpose in life? While there are many ways to do this, some of them fairly involved, here is one of the simplest that anyone can do. The more open you are to this process, and the more you expect it to work, the faster it will work for you. But not being open to it or having doubts about it or thinking it’s an entirely idiotic and meaningless waste of time won’t prevent it from working as long as you stick with it — again, it will just take longer to converge.

Here’s what to do:

1. Take out some post-it notes or a blank sheet of paper or open up a word processor where you can type (I prefer the post it notes because it limits how much we can write).
2. Think about and pray about the question, “What is my true purpose in life?”
3. Write an answer (any answer) that pops into your head. It doesn’t have to be a complete sentence. A short phrase is fine.
4. All of these are probably values that you have but to find your life purpose statement repeat step 3 until you write the answer that resonates deeply with you (or even makes you cry- it's personal). This is your life purpose statement.

Core Values

What core values are:
· An enduring belief, an [often] unwritten assumption and a preferred choice
“a set of general guiding principles; not to be confused with specific cultural or operational practices; [and] not to be compromised for financial gain or short-term expediency.”
· They are non-negotiable, the essence of a person’s identity
· Values help to shape our decision making process and ultimately our actions.


If I have core values…how do I discover them?

Clarifying Your Core Values
Answering the following questions will help to identify implicit values and move you towards formulating an explicit values statement…

1. What activities do you consider of greatest worth?
2. When your mind is in neutral, what do you usually think about?
3. When you lead, what needs to take place for you to be satisfied?
4. The qualities of character you most admire and desire for God to shape into your life are...
5. The actions or qualities in others that really frustrate or annoy you – even if you don’t know why are...
6. What causes do you strongly believe in? Connect with?
7. If you could get a message across to a large group of people. Who would those people be? What would your message be?

Dark-Side Values

Do we have values God may need to reform; values that do not reflect the lifestyle of Christ? Just by living in the world we pick up worldly values. As we grow in our love for God and for His Word, we are challenged to recognize and let God heal our corrupt or unhealthy values.

What are some of my “dark-side orientations” that compel me to wrongly value or over-value certain things?(e.g. of corrupt values: I value keeping up appearances; I value being right; I value always winning; I value over-indulging myself through eating, TV, alcohol…)

Choose to ask for and seriously consider feedback from others who know us or who have observed us over time;

Choose to appropriately self-disclose our issues within proper safe relationships (and get prayer);

Choose to trust GOD for help!!!