My Mission

When I went to DC I met Rosetta Thurman, a rockstar nonprofiteer who not only rocks at her own job but is sought out as a resource for young nonprofiteers nationwide. ROCKSTAR. Since then I've been following her on Twitter which has led me to a variety of her online genius-sharing forums. Today she tweeted a blog list she created about advancing your nonprofit career in 44 different ways. Number 13 rocked - Create a personal mission statement.

So guess what this blog will do...begin the personal mission statement!

First here's a tid bit from Rosetta about writing a personal mission statement

I have been developing my personal mission statement for almost a year now. It’s been a truly rewarding process to write and revisit my goals and values for my life and compare them to how I actually balance my priorities. There’s something really powerful and empowering about being able to say YES or NO to opportunities that come into your life based on how you want to live out your personal values. Dumb Little Man has a great definition of what a personal mission statement is:
Your personal mission statement should be a concise representation of what’s most important to you, what you desire to focus on, what you want to achieve, and, ultimately, who you want to become. In its purest form, it’s an approach to your life, one that allows you to identify a focus of energy, creativity, and vision in living a life in support of your inner-most beliefs and values. Also remember that your mission will change over time as you and your life change.

You can get the full scoop on her blog. I'm going to follow her steps for drafting and you lucky reader will be privvy to it all.

First, Rosetta says to make a list of your values, those things that mean a lot to you

• Ross
• My family
• Lexi
• The health and happiness of the aforementioned people (yes Lexi is a people)
• Making the world a better place
• Teaching my kids to make the world a better place
• Empowering people to help themselves
• Harnessing my strengths - writing, talking and connecting - to achieve great things
• Inspiring others to use their strengths to make the world a better place
• Being an integral part of my community
• Tactful honesty
• Meeting personal challenges and coming out on top
• Taking care of myself and the people around me

Second, what are your goals? How do you want to be remembered?

• Good wife and mother
• Inspiring
• Kind-hearted
• Ambitious and successful - I'll be honest, I want to be a nonprofit CEO or ED
• Debt-free
• Giving
• Mover-n-shaker for the greater good

Third, write the mission statement. Whew, OK here we go.. draft 1

I am committed to my family and my community. I value the health and happiness of both and strive to use my communication and relationship-building skills to empower them to reach their goals, build a happy future and identify and give back to their passion.
I don't think that sounds half-bad. It's the last clause that is most mission statement-y to me. It's very results oriented but I think the first parts are still needed. It's my mission statement afterall. I can decide what's needed.