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Revolutionizing the New Year’s Resolution

Happy New Year!  With every January 1st,  it is time for new resolutions. This year instead of making a to-do list of worthless things I would like to do, but aren’t really motivated to do, I have decided that the New Year’s Resolution needs a little revamping. I am thinking about personal mission statements.

Now career folks everywhere are constantly preaching to job seekers and career advancers about being the CEO of the self- so why not have a mission statement.  If I am in charge of me- the company- then I need a mission statement.

It is something easier said than done. There are So many things to think about. Going back to Business 101 in college, I remember that mission statements define a purpose and goals of the company. When I start to google mission statements of well-known brands, I get everything from environmental stuff, providing quality products, fostering creativity, and making the community a better place and that was only when I searched for tangible stuff, like coffee and ice cream.

I went on a mission to ask those around me about their thoughts and feelings on personal mission statements. I decided first to ask the youth of America, the future world leaders, and peace-makers. I decided to ask my 16 year old son. Being that the best way to communicate with this generation is via device, I sent him a text message. His response: “What??” Obviously this was not a concern for him.

Next I moved on to my husband. Certainly he must have thought about a personal mission statement and using this to replace a new year’s resolution. His response was “Seriously? Too much work.”  This seems to be a bigger deal than I had anticipated.

Not getting anywhere, I decided to ask a co-worker, someone that I thought must think about these things. I was right. He actually does think about them. I asked him if he had one. He said he did, but he had not visited it in a couple years. He also said that it is not something the thinks about discussing at work because it is soft. He discusses it in church.

Church? I’m sure that this is “mushy” stuff, but it is also practical. I can see that it can be spiritual, but it can also be professional. It can help guide our personal and professional judgments along the way. This is something that can be used by workforce development professionals to give them some direction as they do their day to day work. This is something that can be used by job seekers to help lead them to the correct career path and make the decisions for their career that are the best for them.

After hearing all these points, I took a shot at developing my own personal mission statement. This is going to replace my laundry list of things I will probably never do or will exhaust myself trying to do. This statement will not only be my 2014, but will be how I try to live my life beyond that, guiding my personal and career decisions. 

The end result, “to make the world a better place for myself and others, by ensuring that my actions, decisions made, and dreams utilize my knowledge, skills, and abilities in the best and most efficient manner possible.”


I am leaving everyone with a challenge:
Eliminate the New Year’s Resolution and embrace the personal mission statement.

I hope that this blog post has lived up to that statement, as well as other posts I will be writing throughout this year. As always, I welcome comments, suggestions, ideas, and any dialogue on the post.  Thank you for reading! ~Karen Cirincione-kcirincione@gmail.com

Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 15, 2014 at 6:58 PM

    Great thought Karen, I love the idea of a personal mission statement. I think this is a worthwhile exercise and certainly something that should be revisited periodically to ensure that is is still appropriate and that we are keeping to it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 4, 2014 at 10:30 AM

    The mission statement you provided sounds great. But it also feels like a cheat. Something that any person could copy/paste and pronounce "Done!"
    I challenge you next year to revisit this issue with another post that includes a more "personal" mission statement that a stranger could read and understand you as a unique entity. Good luck and Blessed Be.

    ReplyDelete

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