Having a personal mission statement helps answer the question "Am I doing the right thing for me?". Along with this, it is key to gain personal inspiration. Do you know where to find your inspiration?
In 2005, I was lucky enough to be in the English Lake District, at Brathay Hall, taking part in a team development exercise. I have to say the location was inspirational to me. Check out the view from my bedroom window.
Rowing out into the middle of Lake Windermere, taking in the surroundings in silence and then visioning the future with your team mates in a boat is definitely something I have not done before.
A few years later, I was fortunate again to be invited to present at a conference in San Francisco. I took advantage of the trip to do some sightseeing around the city, and then paid myself to visit Yosemite, one of the most visually arresting and personally inspirational places on the planet. This is one of my favourite photos, of sunset over the Golden Gate from Pier 39.
One of the lessons I have learned is to take time out of the day to day hustle and bustle to reflect and review. To revisit in my mind those personal inspirational experiences. To mentally take myself back to those moments and draw strength and inspiration from them. In these moments, whether in the office or out, I take a checkpoint and ensure that the things I am doing and the prioritizations I am applying are right. Right for me, for my boss and for my team.
As an architect and strategist, I spend time thinking about the goals for my personal work, for the team and for the bank as a whole, to understand where we need to be, where we are now, and how we get from one to the other. However, it's not often enough I take the time to consider my own personal strategy.
This set me wondering about how many of us had so far taken the time to form our own personal view of what we want from our time at work. What makes us decide to get out of bed in the morning, or choose to roll over throw a sickie? Where are we going with our careers? Do we have careers, or just jobs? Are we clear what our own personal mission is, what are our values and goals?
I thought it might be useful to share a few quotes to get you inspired....
Anonymous...
"Give me results, not reasons."
"To get what we have not got, we must do what we have never done."
"It's what you do, not what you say."
"The trouble with the future is it usually arrives before we’re ready for it."
"The time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining."
"By intentionally raising your own expectations of yourself, you create a gap between where you are and where you choose to be. Having created this gap for yourself, everything about you automatically begins working on your behalf to close it. This explains why people with a mission enjoy boundless energy."
"Wherever you are now is where you choose to be."
Henry Ford – Founder of the Ford Motor Company
"Whether you think you can or you can't, you are right."
Ancient Chinese proverbs
"Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up again."
"Be not afraid of going slow, be only afraid of stopping."
“To talk much and arrive nowhere is the same as climbing a tree to catch a fish.”
“People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.”
“He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.”
Marcus Aurelius – Roman philosopher and Emperor
"Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to throw away. Death stands at your elbow. Be good for something while you live and it is in your power."
"He that is unacquainted with the nature of the world must be at a loss to know where he is. And he that cannot tell the ends he was made for is ignorant both of himself and the world too."
"In the morning, when thou findest thyself unwilling to rise, consider with thyself presently, if it is to go about a man's work that I am stirred up. Or was I made for this, to lay me down, and make much of myself in a warm bed."
So, what is your personal mission statement?
