The Personal Mission Statement Outline
1. Statement of purpose (one sentence, in twenty-five words or less):
My mission is to . . .
On your Personal Mission Statement Worksheet, you identified four roles (see questions 10-12). Answer the following questions for each role:
2. Role A
a. Qualities/Description (1-2 sentences)
I am . . .
b. Evidence, Actions, Responsibilities (1-2 sentences)
I . . .
3. Role B
a. Qualities/Description (1-2 sentences)
b. Evidence, Actions, Responsibilities (1-2 sentences)
4. Role C
a. Qualities/Description (1-2 sentences)
b. Evidence, Actions, Responsibilities (1-2 sentences)
5. Role D
a. Qualities/Description (1-2 sentences)
b. Evidence, Actions, Responsibilities (1-2 sentences)
6. Summary and Conclusion (3-5 sentences)
My personal philosophy of life and success (see lesson 1)
Lesson 2 Assignment
Using the outline provided, compose the first draft of your personal mission statement. Make sure it is written in present tense as if it were true today.
Ideal Qualities
• accepting
• dynamic
• exceptional
• confident
• daring
• intuitive
• motivated
• gentle
• humble
• quick
• responsive
• patient
• precise
• unique
• charismatic
• sincere
• predictable
• assertive
• exemplary
• understanding
• achieving
• efficient
• neat
• congenial
• decisive
• kind
• responsible
• genuine
• humorous
• rational
• charming
• passionate
• smart
• expressive
• skillful
• thoughtful
• attentive
• open minded
• conscientious
• active
• empathetic
• reflective
• goal directed
• dedicated
• peaceful
• cheerful
• knowledgeable
• imaginative
• realistic
• fair minded
• results oriented
• productive
• considerate
• optimistic
• unpretentious
• tolerant
• attractive
• sociable
• good natured
• adept
• encouraging
• stimulating
• perceptive
• dependable
• logical
• clean
• spiritually sound
• independent
• receptive
• focused
• consistent
• professional
• unstoppable
• objective
• graceful
• trusting
• authoritative
• romantic
• persistent
• adventurous
• energetic
• strong
• spontaneous
• determined
• likable
• coachable
• cooperative
• insightful
• reassuring
• forgiving
• happy
• proficient
• vibrant
• organized
• personable
• trustworthy
• beautiful
• self-aware
• sexy
• affectionate
• enterprising
• sympathetic
• courageous
• direct
• loving
• committed
• helpful
• intelligent
• reliable
• friendly
• persuasive
• prominent
• vigorous
• orderly
• supportive
• truthful
• bold
• self-confident
• creative
• agreeable
• entertaining
• talented
• honest
• disciplined
• loyal
• poised
• compassionate
• innovative
• remarkable
• fun
• prudent
• warm
• original
• unbeatable
• brave
• sensitive
• ambitious
• enthusiastic
• teachable
• distinctive
• masterful
• competent
• introspective
• resourceful
• fun loving
• punctual
• wise
• outgoing
• unbreakable
• caring
• serious
• articulate
• steady
Lesson 3
Choose to Write Down Compelling Goals
The very act of writing down and setting magnificent goals unlocks your creative powers, and the act of writing your goals is completely under your control.
In this lesson, you will learn to
• Motivate yourself to stick with goal setting
• Understand that real goals are written goals
• Learn a simple goal-setting process
• Develop clarity about your future
• Be able to share goals with someone you love
• Manage your goals effectively
Do you consider yourself an avid gambler? Most likely you do not, or you probably wouldn’t be reading a book titled Success Is Not an Accident. But if at this moment you don’t have specific measurable goals written down for each area of your life, and a plan for their accomplishment, then the odds are that success for you will be an accident. Cause and effect in your life will be unclear. Your future will be unpredictable, and your capacity to have an impact on the world with your unique talents and gifts will be severely diminished. You will passively accept a life by default rather than assertively choosing a life by design. This approach is not for you.
Intentional Living
As people have shared their success stories with me, I’ve found that every story has one thing in common: a goal. One of my favorite stories belongs to University of Georgia baseball coach David Perno, probably because it has to do with two of my favorite things: baseball and coaching. On July 21, 2001, two weeks after his thirty-fourth birthday, David became the youngest head baseball coach in the Southeast Conference.9 But that’s not the most impressive part of the story.
Changing Fields
Oddly enough, when you talk to David about his early goals, he doesn’t mention baseball. Instead, he recalls his days playing football at Clarke Central High School in Athens, Georgia. It was David’s football coach, Billy Henderson, who introduced him to goal setting. Henderson not only taught the boys on his team about winning—David’s team won the state championship—he also talked to them about the importance of having a vision, dreaming big, and setting goals.
One of the first goals David set for himself wa
s to play Division I football or baseball in college. It turned out that he would reach his goal by receiving an athletic scholarship to the University of Georgia, where as a freshman he would play left field for the school’s baseball team. And in 1990, David would be a member of the team when they won the national championship.
A Turn of Events
Due to an injury in his first season, David could no longer play at his highest level. Surgery had slowed him down. So after the championship, David turned his sights to coaching.
During his senior year of college, David started writing down short-term goals. Two years later, as an assistant coach at Marshall University in West Virginia, David began focusing on what he wanted long-term.
“I knew what I wanted to do because I’d had the taste of it. I knew that I wanted to coach baseball, but I also knew I didn’t want to stay in West Virginia too long. I wanted to return to the South. . . . I had to figure this thing out and plot my plan. And I laid it out on paper and put it in my wallet.”10
Reaching the Goal
Getting married, having a child, and becoming the head baseball coach at the University of Georgia by age thirty-five—these were the three goals on David’s list. “I knew the first thing I had to do was move back to Georgia, whether it was coaching high school, college, junior college, wherever. I had to get back in Georgia, make some contacts, and do a great job.”11
David became an assistant coach to Robert Sapp at Middle Georgia Junior College. One year later he moved to the University of Georgia when Sapp was offered the job of head coach there. David stayed at the University of Georgia even after Sapp was replaced by Ron Polk, the winningest coach in Southeastern Conference history.12 Under the direction of Polk and David, the Georgia team won the Southeastern Conference in 2001 and played in the College World Series.
At the end of the 2001 season, Polk returned to Mississippi State, where he had coached from 1976 to 1997.13 This was the opportunity David had worked for. He had married Melaney Chastain in 1997, and their daughter was born in 1999, so with only one goal left on his original list, David threw away the piece of paper he had carried in his wallet for seven years. It was time to write down some new goals.
“I set this goal, and I had looked at this goal for many years. I evaluated it, and thirty-five was the cutoff. I was ready to walk away. I said, ‘You know, it’s going to work either way. If I don’t get it now, then hey, I came up short. I’ve got to make some new goals and find a way to make them happen. If it does happen, you know it was meant to be.’”14
David got the job as head coach at the University of Georgia. But he does have some new goals. “Now I’m trying to get a little bit of balance, and I have spiritual, family, and health goals in addition to my career goals. And I think writing them down is the driving force. That’s what gets me up every morning because there’s so much to be done, so much to accomplish. And there’s nothing better than checking off everything you’ve done at the end of the day.”15
By writing down his goals, David set the course for his success. And he continues to write out new goals because he understands that success is not a onetime shot. After five seasons as head baseball coach of the University of Georgia, David has led the Bulldogs to the College World Series twice, attained a record of 183 wins and 126 losses, and has been honored as Baseball America’s Coach of the Year.
What will your course look like? Will you get ready for extreme success or just hope to avoid failure?
This lesson will reinforce your need to set compelling goals, showing you how written goals and your mind are partners in your success. You will be motivated to do what is necessary to become the type of person you want to become. I’ll explain why most Americans still don’t set goals and show what you can do to avoid slipping into this trap of mediocrity. Understanding these concepts will prevent frustration and unnecessary trial and error. Next I’ll give you the eight characteristics of effective goals and help you apply them to set yourself free from the limitations that hold you back. Then the foundation will be set, and you’ll be ready to begin your goal-setting workshop, where I’ll guide you step-by-step through the actual goal-setting process. Once you learn this process, you’ll be able to adjust it, customize it, and mold it so that you can apply it to achieve every goal you desire. Finally, I’ll introduce you to a simple system for managing your long- and short-range goals.
Remember, goal setting is the master skill of all lifelong success, yet it is practiced by less than 3 percent of the population. Only about one percent of people are fully goal directed, meaning that they have committed to doing only those things that help them accomplish a predetermined goal. Fortunately, goal setting and becoming goal directed are skills just like driving a car, skiing, cooking, operating a computer, and selling. And like those skills, there is no limit to how good you can become if you are willing to practice and are committed to becoming an expert.
When you become goal directed, this expertise spills over into all other compartments of your life, drawing out your full potential in each area. Goal setting is a critical skill. Even those who are genuinely proficient at setting goals can dramatically increase their productivity by upgrading, refining, and perfecting their goal-achieving skills. To stay sharp at any skill, you must keep an open mind to new ways of doing things. You must not become complacent. Keep in mind that there is nothing more dangerous to your future success than assuming that you’re good at a critical skill when your knowledge is rudimentary at best. You must not think good; you must think better. If this sounds like your attitude, and you are serious about achieving greater personal and financial success, then the ideas in this lesson can help you progress further and faster than perhaps you ever thought possible.
Investing the time and brain power to set meaningful goals in each area of your life will produce internal, permanent motivation. You’ll become inner directed rather than outer directed or other directed. You will experience an invigorating sense of control over your life. You’ll be driven to become more competent with each passing day. Distractions will no longer be a challenge for you because your course is set.
Planning and reviewing your goals will provide you with an intense, laserlike focus. You will concentrate on the vital few instead of the trivial many. At every minute of every day, you will know exactly where you need to be and what you need to be doing. This enhanced effectiveness will excite you and generate the enthusiasm necessary to become a peak performer.
You will notice yourself getting up earlier and staying up later, and you’ll still have boundless energy. As you concentrate more and more on your goals, you’ll think less and less about your problems and worries. Your energies will be directed toward worthwhile tasks, and you’ll refuse to participate in senseless, escapist activities that only deplete your energy, distract you from your goals, and delay your accomplishments. Goals provide you with clarity of outcome, which is the prerequisite for becoming an outstanding decision maker. When you know specifically where you are going, it’s rather simple to assess opportunities and determine which ones are consistent with your objectives. Constantly remind yourself that every opportunity or activity is moving you either closer to the accomplishment of your goals or further away. The clock is always ticking. Nothing is neutral, and every single thing you do—or fail to do—counts!
While there are many important ingredients in the recipe of success, goals are most important. Without a doubt, the ability to set and achieve goals will do more to improve the quality of your life than any other single process you could ever learn. Whether we know it or not, we all have goals. The challenge is that the majority of the population has tiny goals with little if any motivational value. The masses tend to think small. Even those who have set high goals can get such a tremendous boost by mastering goal-setting principles that their lives will never again be the same. Most could-be superachievers choose to wing it. As a result, they fail to develop and multiply the potential they were born with.
Here’s the Proof
At the beginning of an address to an audience of 150 employees at their annual company retreat, I asked everyone to stand up. Then I asked everyone who did not have goals to sit down. A handful of people sat. I then asked everyone who did not have written goals to sit down. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, all but about twenty people sat. Next, I asked those remaining to sit down unless they had written goals for more than just their career or financial life. That eliminated another twelve, leaving only eight of 150 people who had written goals targeting more than finances or career. I asked the remaining eight to sit down unless they had a written plan that accompanied their goals. That question filtered out five more, leaving three of 150 who had written goals and a plan in more than just the financial area. I asked the remaining three (all senior management, including the company president) to sit down unless they reviewed their goals on a daily basis. Only one person remained standing (a vice president of sales).
Only one in 150 had written goals in more areas than just financial, had a plan for accomplishing them, and reviewed the goals daily. This is consistently what I’ve found over the years as I’ve surveyed the attendees in my public events. Invariably, less than 3 percent have written goals, and even those who have written down their goals have often done so only regarding finances or career.
You may have heard of the 1953 study of Yale graduates. The subjects were periodically interviewed and followed by researchers for more than twenty years. Eventually the graduates were again interviewed, tested, and surveyed. Results showed that 3 percent of the Yale graduates earned more money than all the other 97 percent put together! The only difference between them was the top 3 percent had written goals and a plan of action for those goals, which they reviewed daily.
Harvard University later did a study of business-school graduates from the class of 1979. They found that, other than to “enjoy themselves,” 84 percent of the class had no goals at all. Thirteen percent had goals and plans but had not written them down. Only 3 percent of the Harvard class had written goals accompanied by a plan of action. In 1989, the class was resurveyed. The results showed that the 13 percent who at least had mental goals were earning twice as much as the 84 percent with no goals. However, the 3 percent who had written down their goals and drafted a plan of action were earning ten times as much as the other 97 percent combined!
Success Is Not an Accident Page 6
