I have been asked about a career or professional mission statement and how it relates to personal mission statements. My last blog did not mention a professional mission statement and that was on purpose because I thought it should be treated separately to avoid confusion. Whether it is your life, business, or professional mission statement, in a way, they serve similar purposes. They keep you focused.
Our life’s mission statement encompasses what we live for; the ‘why’ we are here on earth. To achieve our life’s mission, we want to reach and explore our potential to the greatest. We are all blessed with great potentials that we can leverage to reach our life’s mission. This manifests in several ways. We cannot all be entrepreneurs so we must engage in various trades, and career choices. When you choose your career path hopefully it is in alignment with your life’s mission. If you have devoted time to discover your life’s mission, finding your career path shouldn’t be so difficult because it should tie into your life’s mission. It follows then that you have a clear vision of what you are bringing to that career, how you will bring it, and what you expect to get from it.
There are three elements to an effective career mission statement. Your professional or career mission statement should First, define your success in your career. What does success mean to you in that career? What do you want to accomplish with your career? Do you want to reach the highest office possible in your career path? It is very necessary that you are clear on this point because every company of note has a mission and a vision. If you are not clear on what you want out of your career, you may make the wrong choice in choosing your employer. So, your career mission statement must define what success means for you. It keeps you focused on your track.
Secondly, it must clearly state your values. Remember, this statement is for and to serve you. What impact do you want to make? In defining your contribution to your profession, you get a clear understanding of the things that you will have to do. How do your personal values come into play as you journey through your career path? Are your values and that of the companies you wish to work for or currently work for compatible? How can you use your career platform to fulfill your life’s mission?
Third, how do you intend to achieve your success? There has to be something unique that you bring to the table that sets you apart from your colleagues. If you have decided on what success means for you and you have identified the unique skills or talent that you want to bring to the table, the next step is to design the actions, activities to guide you towards achieving your career mission. If, for instance, you are a medical doctor, and you believe that new doctors need mentoring, this is where you state that you will volunteer XY hours a week to hold workshops or meetings with new doctors. Although it may not be part of your defined duties in your place of work, it is something unique that you want to add. Perhaps you will go out of your way to research a particular disease and educate your peers on extra steps they can take to treat it.
When you choose a profession, there is a reason for your choice. Hopefully, it is not because your parents insist that you follow their career path. It happens a lot too. Often, people choose a profession because they have heard that it sales. They want to get a job as soon as possible upon graduation from school. They often do but do they often feel accomplished in that career? Unfortunately, it doesn’t pan out that way. If a person knows their life’s mission, they are most likely to decide on a profession that lends itself to their mission. How it all plays out is a function of vision and action.
If everybody starting in their career will take the time to craft a mission statement and then live by it, there will be more fulfilled professionals in the world. Unfortunately, people only look for jobs. When they get the jobs, they plug away aimlessly but expect to be appreciated by the employer. When their idea of appreciation does not materialize, they get frustrated, and in some cases, they quit and start the same process with a new employer. After a while, they resolve to mark time waiting for retirement. They neither feel fulfilled nor experience the joy of applying their skills and talents. If they had taken the time to define what success to them means, embrace their values and design the pathway to achieving their success, the journey would have more meaning for them.
If you are midway into your career and you have been plowing along without a career mission statement, this is when you pause to think about it. It is better late than never.
Success is not a one size fit all. My success may be to bring unity in the world through arts, and yours may be to use art to help people living with autism in your community to have a social life. Your career mission statement doesn’t have to be lofty. Do not rush it. Take your time to think it through. Then write it down. Reflect on each of the components of a career mission statement. Know this, you are stating what you want people to say about you at your retirement party or send-off party if you had to move somewhere else. If you can write it down, you can visualize it, and you can live it.
Finally, this statement is your professional manifesto. Keep it handy and read it now and then. It helps to meditate on it often. It will help you keep track of what you are doing. In the rough challenges of life, notably, work-related politics and bureaucracy, it is easy to lose track of what’s important to us. You can avoid that by visiting and meditating on your career mission statement.