AlexShalman.comPractical Personal Development

“To begin with the end in mind is to begin with the image of the end of your life as the frame of reference by which everything else is measured.”
~Stephen Covey

Without making things too complicated, who would the elderly you – at the end of a long, happy, and heroic life – be. Who this elderly person will be is going to be a sum of who you have consistently been on each day of your life.

Some questions to wonder about as you decide who you want to be at the end of your life.

1. When you look back at your life, will you be proud of the person that you have become?
2. Will you be proud of the decisions that you have made that have made you into this person?
3. Will you be happy with the wisdom you have gathered, the wealth you have amassed, and the loved ones that are by your side?

Crafting a Mission Statement to Live Consistently With Our Vision

In order to be a specific type of person at the end of our life, we need to effectively create, and recreate, our lives so that our path will lead us to our goal. We won’t be perfectly aligned with our path 100% of the time, in fact, I believe that we’ll have to constantly refocus ourselves to make sure we’re on the path that we have defined for ourselves.

I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage about an airplane that is heading from New York to Los Angeles. Most of the trip, the plane isn’t pointing exactly at Los Angeles, as wind, turbulence, and sometimes geese force the plane to go several degrees off course. The pilot, or autopilot system, has to constantly readjust the direction of the plain in order to get back on track.

In our lives, we also have to consistently readjust our course, so that we can safely arrive at being who we want to be – both right now, and in the future. In order to live a life without regrets, we must be the type of person that upholds our own highest principles for ourselves, and never deviates from them. In order to do this, we must first define what these ‘highest principles’ are for us.

Our principles are what keep us on the path. The path is the way that we are being. The way that we are being is defined within our mission statement. Our mission statement is our way to our path, which is our way to our goals. Our mission statement is who we are committed to being, regardless of the circumstances.

Set your life goals and mission statement together, so that one compliments the other, and they don’t contradict each other. Set your life goals according to what you want, not what others may want for you.

My Personal Mission Statement

1. I am an outstanding human being in every respect
2. I am honest, kind, loving, loyal and true – to my family, friends and everyone who knows me
3. I am a positive, optimistic, confident, warm, friendly person who is admired and respected by everyone
4. I am an excellent parent (in the future), a fine employer and I do my work in an upstanding fashion every time
5. I uplift, encourage and inspire everyone I meet – everywhere I go
6. The possibility that I have created for myself and my life is the possibility of being someone who operates with the greatest good of all in mind, and the possibility of living in the present.

I have full confidence that if I am the person that I describe in this mission statement, every day of my life and in every decision that I make, that I will be very proud of the way my life has gone when I’m looking back at the end of my life.

How would you like to see yourself at the end of your life? What would you like for people to say about you at your funeral?

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