Sunday, May 26, 2013
Jon's Mission Statement
My friends at work and I started a book club and are reading Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Recently, I gave a presentation on Habit 3, Begin With The End in Mind. One of the activities for Habit 3 is to write a personal mission statement. This statement contains principles that we believe will help us reach the envisioned end state of our lives. Similar to a Constitution, it contains higher laws that will guide lower decisions and activities. Also like a Constitution, it is open to periodic review and adjustment as situations and needs change. Three of the four sections in my mission statement are obviously inspired by the U.S. Constitution. By posting this publicly, I hope to empower my own allegiance to these principles and perhaps inspire other people to do the same.
Those reading this and who know me will likely find I've routinely violated many of these principles in the past. This is intentional and not meant to be hypocritical. Rather, what better principles should we set but those that address our weaknesses.
Your Bill of Rights
Checks and Balances
Church and State
Those reading this and who know me will likely find I've routinely violated many of these principles in the past. This is intentional and not meant to be hypocritical. Rather, what better principles should we set but those that address our weaknesses.
Jon's Mission Statement
Applicable to all family, work, and community endeavors.
- Make everything as fun as possible.
- Stimulate intellectual and spiritual curiosity.
- When other people make mistakes, help them learn and achieve the best possible outcome.
- Always find the applicable truth in every opinion.
- Never feel too busy to help someone in need.
- Understand the limits of my own views and opinions; don't take them too far.
- Make views and opinions known as it benefits the group.
- Prefer purchases that provide a significant return on investment in time, money, and talent.
- Act within my circle of influence in order to increase it.
- When feelings of love or friendship are in decline, create more through personal acts of love and friendship.
- In situations where personal values conflict, find by considering the good of others.
- Seek out new knowledge and skills.
- Avoid all useless distractions.
Your Bill of Rights
All people shall have the following rights granted
- To have an opinion different than mine without feeling threatened or disliked.
- My sincere empathy, sympathy, and help as the situation demands.
- To be heard and understood.
- To be judged fairly regardless of political, religious, physical, or mental differences.
Checks and Balances
The needs or guidance of others may redirect my own initiative.
- Counsel of religious leaders and other teachers of personal values.
- My wife.
- Wants of my children.
- Counsel of experts in their own field.
- Obey just laws regardless of my agreement with them.
- Help others in the way they need to be helped.
Church and State
Both religious and secular knowledge play vital roles in my life.
- Give of spare time and money to both secular and religious causes that align with my values.
- Be involved in the political process and vote.
- Use religious or spiritual knowledge and methods to set my life's goals.
- Use secular knowledge and methods to manage progress toward those goals.
- Don't misuse spiritual or secular methods by using one to do the job of the other.
- Be comfortable with apparent contradictions between ideas that prove their worth.
- Use divine faith to transcend all other desires.
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