On creating a personal statement of purpose: what’s yours?

Numerous times over the past couple of weeks, I’ve asked people to tell me their mission statements. Their personal statements of purpose.

It’s funny how that concept takes on so many different meanings for different people. Two of the first people who answered my question did so from a business/marketing approach, something I didn’t expect, though I suppose that in itself is telling of an individual’s priorities. The other answers I received ranged from sassy to sarcastic to cliche – yet none of them took the tone I was trying to set myself with my yet-to-be formulated personal mission statement.

My therapist gave a good example. Her purpose statement, she said, is to always strive to be a more loving person. I like this one in particular because “love” has such a broad definition; there are many ways to be more loving, all of which ultimately have a positive impact.

I suppose my struggle has been with wrapping my head around the magnitude of this idea. The term “personal statement of purpose” sounds like it ought to be the driving force behind everything that you do. Your reason for living and breathing. The thing that guides your every action, and I don’t know about you, but deciding something like that sounds like a pretty major development to me. And I can’t even commit to an apartment lease longer than six months without getting a little uncomfortable.

I really like the way Erica O’Grady approaches this topic. She examines her priorities and determines her motivations from there, drawing a clearer picture of who she is and strives to be. It’s by no means an easy thing to do, especially when listing your priorities means admitting you prioritize some things that maybe you shouldn’t. So without getting too personal (I hope), here are my top ten, in no particular order.

1.  Impactfulness
2.  Acceptance
3.  Communication
4.  Passion
5.  Accomplishment
6.  Creativity
7.  Validation
8.  Community
9.  Trust
10. Confidence

I know you’re shocked that rock and roll, boys and eyeliner are nowhere to be found on that list… oh, but they are. They’re just buried within blanket terms that apply to many parts of our lives.

When I say “acceptance,” for example, part of that means seeking the acceptance of others. No one likes to admit things like that are important to them, do they? I’m not going to lie – being liked by other people is totally a big deal to me. I think it’s the influence of my bullied-in-middle-school inner child. Then I think, maybe if I cared less what other people think, they would be more apt to like me. But you can’t make yourself just stop caring, can you?

See?

It gets to be a big ol’ vicious-cycle type of mess that I still haven’t figured out. Hence why acceptance, validation and confidence all have places on that list.

I like that I’ve been able to come up with a good mix of priorities that I am actively tackling and others that are taking up far too much space in my brain not to do anything with. Putting something in a top ten list pretty much actualizes it, right? This is a call to action to myself – I have to work on my image, my social habits and all those things that tie into confidence; I have to be more persistent in getting things done; I have to do whatever it takes to stay excited about my work and my life to prevent burnout (and by extension, unproductivity, low self-esteem, etc.).

I’m totally calling myself out. My personal mission statement?

I will take better care of myself to have a more positive impact on my community.

In other words, I need to get myself together so I can be a stronger advocate for the causes I believe in. So I can be a better friend to the people I love. So I can contribute solid ideas and produce quality writing and rightfully earn the respect and confidence of others.

Because seriously? I’m dipping into my therapist’s pool of feel-good wisdom again, but I think there might be something to that bit about loving yourself first.