Day Three: Define Your Purpose, Your Mission and Your Goals

If you know me at all, you know that goal setting is one of my favorite activities ever. Annoyingly so. I love to have the "5 year plan" conversation on a regular basis, much to my husband's dismay. So step three on the road to success being all about goal setting makes me feel like I can take a breather 'cause I have this one down. But I can't, because I'm not so familiar with defining my purpose and my mission. How many times have you been to a work function where you are forced to collaborate with your colleagues to come up with a "vision statement"? This goes down as one of my least favorite activities. I know, maybe I'm a cynic but I hate forcing corporate jargon into a wandering run-on sentence over which everyone will feign excitement but will forget within 2 days. So the thought of creating my personal vision statement makes my eyes glaze over like my ancient pug Lucy's. But if I'm honest with myself, I realize that without knowing who I am, I can't define where it is I want to be. So I'll do it. And maybe you can too so I won't be the only one feigning excitement. Here's some ideas to get you started:

1. What are the ten things you most enjoy doing?

2. What three things must you do everyday to feel fulfilled in your work? Mine would be laugh, learn something, and teach something. Hmmm, this isn't so hard.

3. What are your 5 most important values? Think of things like empathy, ambition, diversity, security, etc.

4. Write one important goal for each of the following areas of your life: physical, spiritual, career, family, social relationships, financial security, mental improvement and attention, and fun.

5. If you never had to work again, how would you spend your time?

6. When your life is ending, what will you regret not seeing, doing or achieving?

7. What strengths have other people noticed about you? What strengths have you noticed in yourself?

8. What do you believe are your weaknesses? What do others say are your weaknesses?

Now craft your vision statement and write about the future you hope to achieve. Good luck!