If you’ve been around corporate America, my guess is that you’ve seen mission statements before. But have you considered that you personally have a purpose in life?
Perhaps your experience with mission statements has left you cynical. Maybe, like me, you’ve seen statements like this one:
My purpose is to be the leading expert in positive reinforcement, complementing, serving, and nurturing good will, prosperity, and happiness for the very young to the very old.
Blah! Horrible! Why bother?
But there is a way to create a personal purpose statement that is meaningful and drives you forward in life. Here is a segment from our book that explains how:
An effective personal purpose statement must have four key elements:
1. It is short.
2. It remains.
3. It captures the essence.
4. It gives a compass heading.
Short
The key is to have a short and sweet statement that has a ton of significance to you. It may not have the same meaning to anyone else and that’s okay. In the book, The Art of the Start26, Guy Kawasaki suggests a three-word mantra in place of a mission statement for businesses. We recommend a personal purpose statement that is about that short, ideally just three or four words.
One of the biggest reasons to keep it short is so you can remember it easily. You want to be able to cite it (at least to yourself) at any moment. That way, if someone asks you to participate in some project or activity, you will be able to bring your purpose statement to mind quickly and assess if that project or activity meshes with your own purpose.
Shorter statements are clear and decisive. When the purpose is clear, it drives excitement. You want it to have a ‘punch’ to energize you to action. Remember that ridiculously long bad example of a purpose statement we shared earlier? Compare it with this one:
Developing leaders who multiply.
This statement is simple and clear. If you’re into developing leaders, this purpose statement pumps you up.
When a purpose statement is longer than just a few words, it’s really easy to get stuck trying to formulate the perfect phrasing. You’ll spend way too long spinning your words, trying to make the statement express your purpose in just the right way to capture all the nuances. The goal is to capture the essence of the idea, not revel in perfect eloquence.
Remains
Purpose statements are not the same as goals. Goals have specific outcomes with specific time frames. Your purpose doesn’t end until you are done living on this earth. Therefore, you don’t want to phrase your purpose statement as a goal that may one day be accomplished. If it is written properly, you won’t ever find yourself saying, “Well, I accomplished my purpose, now what?”
Your purpose statement should not be tied to any single person or organization. People and organizations come and go. Many empty-nesters have an identity crisis when their kids leave home. The purpose statement needs to outlast any particular circumstance, like being a parent, or a having a role in a particular company. Instead, a purpose statement needs to be one that remains true no matter the circumstances.
Essence
Often times, what we think we want is just an approximation of what we really want. Sometimes we think we want a specific solution, when what we really want is a deeper desire that the solution brings. This idea should sound familiar, because it is the basis for the Burrito Principle.
We need to use this same mindset to get to the root of what we really want to accomplish with our lives. Our purpose statement should never involve thinking like: “My purpose statement is this so I will accomplish that.” The purpose statement is always about the desired end result.
For example, a statement like “Instructing the elderly” doesn’t capture the essence if the reason we are teaching is to help the elderly to live more independently. In this case, a better purpose statement would be: “empowering seniors’ independence.”
Compass Heading
To capture the essence of our calling, our purpose statement will be somewhat general. Having our purpose statement provide a compass heading ensures that it’s not so general that we don’t know what to do.
Your purpose statement won’t be specific enough to tell you what to do this week. It doesn’t provide an exact map for your life, but it should give you an idea of which direction to go. From this compass heading, you should be able to set goals and make plans. It will describe your calling in a way that is meaningful to you.
A good purpose statement can succinctly express your passions, your strengths, your meaningful impact, or some combination of those elements. For you, it will be so rich in meaning that it will get you moving in the right direction.
The purpose statement should not be so vague that you don’t know what to do with it, and yet it’s not so specific that circumstances can invalidate it.
Our purpose in life should utilize our greatest strengths, reflect our deepest passions and values, and make a meaningful impact in the world. In essence, it flows from our heart and our being in service to others. If you’d like to read more, check out our book here or here.
We’d love to continue the conversation with you. Do you know your purpose? If so, share it with us. If not, would you like some clarity in this area? Either way, we’d love to support you.
