How do I create my Personal Mission Statement?

Dear EQuipped Leaders,

Hi! I hope you are having a wonderful start to your 2022-23 school year. Whether this year is treating you well or you’re wondering how you’re going to make it through, all of your feelings are okay. We’re all in different seasons of our careers and lives.

Wherever I’m finding you, I have a fun little activity that I like to do towards the beginning of each school year that I’d like to try with you today: crafting a personal mission statement. :)

Why take the time to craft your Why?

“We tend to live our best lives when we live deliberately, knowing at a deep level why we are doing what we are doing.”

— Relationships that Work

I like to craft one of these for my parking lot moments. Do you know what I’m talking about? Those days when you pull up to your school, car still running, and you gear up for the day ahead. Personal Mission Statements are helpful when you find yourself struggling to get out of your car or wondering “Why am I doing this? What am I doing here? Does all my hard work even matter?”

Reflecting on your personal, capital “W” Why can make all the difference in those important moments.

It can also serve as powerful affirmation that your life force matters. How you’re choosing to spend your time matters. You matter (even if people have treated you as if you don’t.) Your life force is a gift, and you deserve to feel good about where you choose to share it.

“Time is now. If you haven’t already established why you are choosing to invest your life force in any given venture, you owe it to yourself to do so now.”

— Relationships that Work

So let’s do this thing!

Here are two prompt stems with a few examples to get your creative juices flowing:

I am an educator because…

I was influenced by good educators, and I believe in the power of the profession.

I know I was called to do so.

I have the ability and desire to connect with students and to use the relationships to make them better learners and people.

Because I am an educator…

I am tired, but content in knowing that what I do matters.

I have had the opportunity to experience the joy and heartache of working with students, and in the end, know that in some small way I have changed their lives.

I hope my students will have better lives.

I just updated mine for working with Applied EQ:

I work with AEQ because my life has been transformed by kind people loving, empowering, and EQuipping me. I want to be a kind person who loves on, empowers, and EQuips educators because teachers have the power to transform lives.

I like to post this somewhere I can see it everyday. In my classroom, I always posted it on the bulletin board behind my desk, as a reminder to myself and as a sign to my students about why I showed up for them each day. Now, I post it right above my writing desk, and when I’m feeling a little listless or demotivated, I just look up and remember. “Oh right, this is really important and if people hadn’t intervened on my behalf, where would I be? How can I be that EQ intervention for someone else? What might be the ripple effect of the work I’m doing with educators?”

If I can tap back into that calling, big picture view, I find so much energy and motivation. I remember my fire, and I feel motivated to let that light within me shine.

Where does this land for you today?

What are your thoughts and feelings as you drive up to campus each day?
What is your Personal Mission Statement?
Why are you sharing your life force as an educator?

Wanting more?

If this exercise resonated with you, you might enjoy reading Relationships that Work or booking a workshop with us to implement these skills on your campus:

Relationships that Work Workshop Description:

Most of us already know that relationships matter in any field, but particularly in education. The question is: how? How do I build life-impacting relationships with students? How do I build resourceful relationships with my colleagues on campus? How do I build supportive relationships with my students’ parents?

There is a framework—the practice of four essential skills that will posture and position any educator to a place of relational readiness. 1) Reflecting (on why I am here); 2) Directing (the fuel of my emotion); 3) Connecting (building relational bridges across differences) and 4) Protecting (my mind, my heart, and my body from toxic, hurtful people).

Learning Outcomes:

Participants will understand the importance of “why”.
Participants will recognize the role of managing emotion in healthy relationships.
Participants will know how to utilize non-contingent communication (bridge-building) to overcome personal biases.
Participants will understand the dynamics of effective boundary setting.

Better EQuipped Together, Elizabeth Eason Martin

Want to better EQuip your school’s leaders, classrooms, and parents?

Connect with us through email or Schedule a free call with Jenny, our Director of School Partnerships, to discuss your school’s needs and if we’re a good fit for your campus.

Let’s Get Acquainted!