"May you live in interesting times" is an ancient saying which aptly captures the tempo of these times. Mired in growing economic uncertainty and fear, it's easy to get emotionally rattled. My Self-Mastery article this month shares ideas on how to survive tough financial times.
Due to strong reader demand, the first edition of my book TURN STRATEGY INTO ACTION is nearly sold out. If you've attended one of my workshops, you know the power of these methods to tackle the big issue that matters, and this book shows you how.
To be sure you get a copy, order it now at Amazon.com because there are less than 100 copies remaining, and they'll soon be gone.
In times like these, it's even more crucial than ever that we each have a personal mission statement. This month, planning pioneer George Morrisey shows us how to create one in an article adapted from his book Creating Your Future: Personal Strategic Planning for Professionals (Berrett-Koehler Publishers). Morrisey is a former teaching colleague at the UCLA Extension's Technical Management Program and a recognized thought-leader in strategic and operational planning.
Crafting Your Personal Mission Statement:
A Foundation For Your Future
A statement of mission is probably the single most important strategic document you can have, whether you function as a Fortune 500 corporation, a small- to medium-size business, or as an individual professional. Mission statements establish a firm foundation and provide clear guidance for all significant decisions. A mission statement describes the nature of the work as well as the life in which you expect to be involved. It also clarifies who you will be serving, products or services you will be providing, and the fundamental philosophy and personal values under which you expect to operate. In addition, it can creatively communicate with other people who can contribute to (or are impacted by) what you intend to do.
Benefits of a Personal Mission Statement
A mission statement is not a static document. Rather, it is a dynamic, living guideline that can provide all sorts of direct and tangential. An effective mission statement will help you to:
- Articulate the specific kind of business in which you should be involved, including your role within that business, thus providing a clear focus on where your energies should be directed. For example, suppose you are currently an engineer in a high-tech company with ambitions to move into management. If you continue your focus within your engineering discipline, your managerial future is limited. If, however, you were to identify your future business role as "managing and integrating a multidisciplinary operation," this might open up significant opportunities for expanding your horizons. If you are a computer programmer/analyst-either inside or outside of a major organization-who identifies your business as systems design and support, you could provide services as widely varied as hardware and software acquisition; installation and integration; management information systems design or modification; systems education; time-sharing services; or actual management, as a vendor, of systems operations for one or more separate businesses.
- Determine what not to do to keep you from diverting time, energy and other resources in activities that are inconsistent with where you want to go. For example, I determined early in my career as a consultant that I was going to concentrate in my business in providing only products and services that had been developed partially or entirely by me. Over the years, I have had many opportunities to take on additional products or services developed by others, some of which provided very attractive profit potential. Had I pursued those opportunities, however, it would have diverted me from my own strategic plan that was to position me as one of the top experts in my field.
- Communicate your own philosophy and values to those with whom you must relate. By taking a clear position on such things as ethical or environmental issues, quality of service, relationships with clients, commitment to your family, and the role you intend to play in contributing to your profession can both help focus your efforts as well as avoid future misunderstandings. For example, if one of your personal convictions is that you will not knowingly perform any actions that will have a negative effect on the environment, stating that puts you on record for your own guidance as well as others.
- Create a professional image. The fact that you have developed a thoughtful statement of personal mission communicates very clearly to others who may be in a position to support you that you are really serious about your profession and are prepared to back up whatever you are committing yourself to do. This can be used with potential clients, vendors, employers, bankers or venture capitalists as well as professional colleagues.
How to Develop Your Personal Mission Statement
Start by secluding yourself where you can spend a couple of completely uninterrupted hours to write down your answers to questions such as those shown on the next page. You may wish to add to, delete or modify these questions based on your own personal preferences and the circumstances in which you find yourself. These questions should also be answered independently by anyone else who has a strong personal interest in how you pursue your profession. These could include your spouse and/or other family members, close personal friends, business/professional associates, advisors and so forth.
Answer these questions independently at first to reduce the potential of being unduly influenced by the answers of others. Next, we recommend that you arrange with someone who does not have a strong vested interest in its outcome to help you facilitate the shaping of your mission statement. Consider choosing a professional colleague to help you develop your statement of mission; and you, in turn, help them. This is valuable even if you are doing it strictly by yourself without other people being involved. Having colleague's serve as a facilitator forces you to defend what you have stated and to ensure that you have examined the issue from all relevant angles. This may include playing the role of "devil's advocate" on occasion. Also, someone without a personal vested interest may be able to help you identify certain factors which your own myopia keeps you from seeing. When others are involved in helping you develop your statement of mission, the facilitator's job will be to draw out divergent points of view with the hope and expectation that true synergy will occur. In other words, the statement you eventually create should end up being stronger and more meaningful than one you would have developed solely on your own.
If you are involved in a business organization, or work with a group of principals in a professional firm, developing a statement of organizational mission can prove to be one of the most powerful team-building tools available. It forces those who are deeply involved in the business to address some of the broader issues that frequently get overlooked during day-to-day activities. This is especially true of discussions around philosophy and values.
Here are some trigger questions for clarifying your mission
- What business and/or profession am I currently in?
- What business and/or profession would I like to be in? What do I really enjoy?
- What business and/or profession should I be in?
- What is my basic purpose in business and in life?
- What are or should be my principal business functions and roles for both the present and future?
- What is unique or distinctive about what I can bring to my business/profession?
- Who are or should be my principal customers, clients, or users?
- What are the principal market segments, present and future, in which I am most effective?
- What is different about my personal business position from what it was three to five years ago?
- What is likely to be different about my personal business position three to five years in the future?
- What are my principal economic concerns?
- What are or should be my principal sources of income?
- What philosophical issues, personal values and priorities are important to my professional future?
- What special considerations do I have or need to have in regard to the following (as applicable): Board of Directors or other outside group(s); professional colleagues; employer(s); partners or associates; staff; customers, clients, or users; vendors or suppliers; professional associations; family; church; community; myself; or any other people or organizations.
The statement of mission you ultimately produce will not necessarily answer all of these questions. Some of these may be more appropriately addressed in other parts of your strategic plan, while others may not be important enough to be included at all.
Based on experience, I have found that the process of developing a statement of mission is far more important than the product. In other words, the thinking, discussion, evaluation, modification and reflection that take place during this development effort represents the primary value that comes from your statement of mission. The actual statement is merely a codification of the thinking process that you go through.
Making Your Mission Statement a Living Document
Once the initial draft of your mission statement has been developed, you may find it useful to circulate copies among some of your professional colleagues or others who can provide you with some meaningful feedback. Letting it simmer for several days before putting it into its final form sometimes can help identify other factors that ought to be included as well as certain modifications that might strengthen the document itself. You probably will not be completely satisfied with your initial draft, or even your second or third draft. However, we strongly recommend that you adopt your mission statement as representing your current perspective with the understanding that it can be reviewed and modified at a later date. You are far better off having an imperfect document than waiting until you have one that meets all of your personal expectations.
I recommend that you formally review it at least once a year or whenever you are faced with a significant change in the nature of your business. Going through this thinking process periodically is a healthy exercise for any professional or business. Once the mission statement is in a form that is reasonably satisfactory, consider having it reproduced and posted where it can be seen by those who are impacted by it. I have seen personal mission statements framed and posted as wall charts; laminated and put on a stand on an individual's desk; printed on the back of business cards; included in descriptive or promotional literature; added as a preamble to professional proposals; and in a variety of other ways-limited only by your own imagination. By keeping it visible and referring to it periodically, it becomes a living document which can increasingly influence your own way of thinking as well as your planning and operating decisions.
About George Morrisey
George Morrisey is based in Central Florida and is the author of 19 books including the three-book series "Morrisey on Planning." Web site: morrisey.com, Email: GMorrisey@aol.com, Phone: 321-452-7414.
Helping our clients think bigger and plan smarter is what we do best. Each month, we feature a project plan using the Logical Framework, our core systems thinking methodology. Click the image to download this pdf (52K).
This month's we take a fanciful turn, with a project on becoming a national dancing champion. (Thanks to Ken Hane for the initial draft). Even if dancing isn't your thing, consider how you can apply the structure of this plan as a template for some of your own goals.
To learn the benefits of this approach, get our free Special Report “Turn Strategy Into Action” (by clicking here).
How to Survive Tough Economic Times
These are indeed interesting economic times, when good and hard-working people's lives are being interrupted by the still-unfolding economic shocks around the world. While we may not suffer a global economic depression, it's not hard to feel depressed about the state of affairs. Here are some tips to survive these tough economic times.
- Get frugal - cut expenses. Savings of 5% to 10% can often be squeezed out of every budget without reducing the quality of your life. Getting comparative quotes on auto and home insurance is a good place to start. Monitoring how you spend your WAM (walking around money) may reveal interesting insights into some of the habits that deplete your wealth. For a more thorough review, check out this excellent guide to 101 ways to save money and implement what makes sense for you. http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/H/HE-0562/
- Get organized - pull your finances together. Do you know your financial status at all times? How leak-proof is your financial system? Do you have a budget and compare planned versus actual expenses monthly? Are you tracking your finances on Quicken or something similar? If not, now is the time. Getting everything together and having a system for money management not only builds wealth, but it builds a sense of control.
- Get smarter - gain knowledge. Do you have the right allocation in your 401 (k) or other retirement plan? You can better interpret the advice from brokers and other professionals if you first increase your own knowledge base. There are plenty of free on-line sources of quality information.
- Get talking - share information. When is the last time you had a serious conversation with your significant others about your money patterns, goals, and habits that may get in the way? It's okay to share your fears as well, if you turn these concerns into positive action. Do you understand your "money personality?" and how early childhood patterns and beliefs can be dysfunctional now? (Plug the words "your money personality" into an Amazon search for several good books on this).
- Get physical - involve your body. Activities like lifting weights or cycling can get your blood pumping in a way that increases your sense of efficacy and esteem. If you lack a regular exercise program, get started on one now.
- Get emotional - muster up your best mental and emotional qualities. Bring to mind a time when things were difficult, and by drawing on your best, you made it through. What qualities did you pull from? Confidence? Tenacity? Humor? Love? Get specific about the ingredients of your own best mental and emotional state. Those same qualities will serve you well now.
- Get going - take action. Create a plan for yourself and your family. Identify the specific next steps and get moving on them.
Most important of all, appreciate that the feeling of financial confidence and security is not a function of your net worth, but a function of your core beliefs and self-talk. If you tell yourself that things will be okay, and take the actions that you can, they will indeed turn our all right.
Only a half-dozen books in my library date back to my high school days. As a Man Thinketh by James Allen, America's philosopher, is one of them. My well-thumbed and underlined edition has been instrumental in my life, and perhaps will be in yours as well.
The philosophy expressed in this classic is timeless; and its poetic language reinforces the wisdom Allen imparts. Best of all, you can get one online for free. Read this review to learn more:
AS A MAN THINKETH
By James Allen
The core ideas from the recent blockbuster The Secret and other self-development bestsellers can be traced to James Allen's most famous book, As a Man Thinketh, first published in 1902.
I first began reading it in high school, which shaped my core beliefs and life path by teaching me the cause-and-effect relationship between thoughts and experiences. Its core premise is that noble thoughts make a noble person, while lowly thoughts make a miserable person.
This amazing book shows how a man (or woman) is literally what he (or she) thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts. I continue to be inspired by Allen's thoughts such as you'll find in the quotes that follow.
"Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul which have been restored and brought to light in this age, none is more gladdening or fruitful of divine promise and confidence than this - that man is the master of thought, the molder of character, and maker and shaper of condition, environment, and destiny."
Allen's wonderful and inspiring passages ring true that "a man [or woman] is literally what he [or she] thinks… All that a man or woman achieves or fails to achieve is the direct result of their own thoughts."
You can't help but by deeply moved by feasting on these images: "The Vision that you glorify in your mind, the Ideal that you enthrone in your heart - this you will build your life by, this you will become."
Keep a copy of his book by your side and underline key passages. Read it when you get discouraged; and reread it when the road seems too rough to get back on that right path. And as Allen points out, remember:
"Cause and effect is as absolute and undeviating in the hidden realm of thought as in the world of visible and material things. A noble and Godlike character is not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts. An ignoble and bestial character, by the same process, is the result of the continued harboring of groveling thoughts."
You can get a free PDF version online at http://jamesallen.wwwhubs.com/think.htm
You can find very inexpensive copies of this book on Amazon.com. If, like me, you treasure the thoughts, you'll want a bound copy as well.
(This joke has some real-world analogies about self-fulfilling prophecies and the belief systems that drive behavior.)
It was Autumn, and the Indians on the remote reservation asked their new Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was an Indian Chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets, and when he looked at the sky, he couldn't tell what the weather was going to be. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect wood to be prepared.
Being a practical leader, after several days, he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?"
"It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed," the Meteorologist at the weather service responded. So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared.
One week later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Is it going to be a very cold winter?" he asked.
"Yes," the man at National Weather Service again replied, "it's going to be a very cold winter." The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find.
Two weeks later he called the National Weather Service again. "Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?"
"Absolutely," the man replied. "It looks like it's going to be one of the coldest winters ever."
"How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked.
The weatherman replied, "The Indians are collecting firewood like crazy".