GOAL SETTING AND PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT

Transcription

1 Prsonal Dvlopmnt Track Sction 4 GOAL SETTING AND PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT Ky Points 1 Dfining a Vision 2 Writing a Prsonal Mission Statmnt 3 Writing SMART Goals to Support a Vision and Mission If you do not know whr you ar going, vry road will gt you nowhr. Hnry Kissingr, formr US Scrtary of Stat

2 Goal Stting and Prsonal Mission Statmnt 95 Introduction Succssful Army ladrs such as Gorg Washington, Dwight D. Eisnhowr, and Colin Powll did not attain gratnss by luck. Thy knw what thy blivd and whr thy wantd to go. Thy wr mn with solid valus and dfind goals, as wll as a clar vision and sns of mission. Bcaus of thir rsolv, whn thy wr tstd, thy wr rady to mt th challngs thy facd. As a collg studnt and ROTC Cadt, you fac many dcisions in th nxt fw yars that will affct th cours of your lif. This sction will discuss how you can dvlop a vision for your lif basd on your valus, writ a prsonal mission statmnt, and st concrt, attainabl prsonal goals. GEN Colin Powll notd th valu of vision whn h wrot down his 13 ruls for command. GEN Colin Powll s Ruls for Command 1. It ain t as bad as you think. It will look bttr in th morning. 2. Gt mad, thn gt ovr it. Prsonal Dvlopmnt Track 3. Avoid having your go so clos to your position that whn your position falls, your go gos with it. 4. It can b don! 5. B carful what you choos. You may gt it. 6. Don t lt advrs facts stand in th way of a good dcision. 7. You can t mak somon ls s choics. You shouldn t lt somon ls mak yours. 8. Chck small things. 9. Shar crdit. 10. Rmain calm. B kind. 11. Hav a vision. B dmanding. 12. Don t tak counsl of your fars or nay sayrs. 13. Prptual optimism is a forc multiplir. GEN Colin Powll Critical Thinking Basd on GEN Powll s ruls, what do you think h valus? How could guidlins lik ths hlp you at collg?

3 96 SECTION 4 vision a vivid dscription of th futur that focuss your fforts your vision is a rfrnc point to guid your dcisions, planning, and actions for th futur Which Words Bst Exprss Your Valus? Ambitious Adaptabl Carr-mindd Capabl Couragous Family-focusd Flxibl Honst Indpndnt Logical Obdint Rsponsibl Slf-controlld Halth-focusd Environmntally conscious Spiritually focusd Othrs? mission your purpos prsonal and profssional which guids your planning and actions as you put your vision into practic Dfining a Vision Your vision is th guiding thm of your prsonal lif and profssional carr. Your vision is a long-trm pictur that stablishs your prioritis for making short-trm dcisions. Your vision grows out of your valus and, as a Cadt, from th cor Army Valus you v alrady studid in prvious sctions. Som popl ask: Why hav a vision? Why dos it mattr? Th answr is that vision provids dirction for your lif and contxt for your dcisions. If you don t know whr you ar going any road can tak you thr. To lad popl whthr fllow Cadts, fllow studnts, Soldirs, or mploys you nd to know whr you want to go. Vision motivats popl to prform to thir potntial and byond. A vision rducs th liklihood of complacncy, drifting, and mdiocr prformanc. Your strong vision also maks you a rol modl. Whn your subordinats s that you hav a clarly dfind vision in your lif and carr, thy will imitat you. Whn you bcom a scond liutnant, your Soldirs will look to you and your vision to provid th framwork and contxt not only for your command dcisions but also for th ordrs you giv and th work you ask thm to prform. Many popl and organizations find it hlpful to rcord thir vision as a vision statmnt. This forcs you to ask yourslf som profound qustions: What should your vision statmnt say? What do you want to b known for? What ar th most important things in your lif? What do you want to achiv? Think also about th modl you will want to projct to your fllow studnts, Cadts, and, whn you bcom an officr, to your Soldirs. Your vision should includ what mattrs most to you, so whn you writ your vision statmnt, you nd to rflct on and clarify your valus. Think about th words that bst xprss who you want to b. A vision statmnt is usually vry concis no mor than a sntnc or two. So you ll nd to slct only about fiv or six valus or charactristics to go into your vision statmnt (s th marginal txt for a partial list). Of cours, your prioritis will shift as you gt oldr, gain xprinc, and advanc in your carr. That s why you should think about your vision statmnt as a living documnt, somthing that can and will chang with tim. You ar not carving your vision in ston. Plan to rvisit your statmnt, rflct on your prioritis, and mak changs vry yar or two. Hr s an xampl of a possibl vision statmnt: I am dtrmind to b th bst ROTC Cadt among my prs, th bst studnt to my tachrs, th bst athlt to my coachs, and th bst son (or daughtr) to my parnts that I can possibly b. I pldg to us my strngths to bttr my waknsss in all aras of my lif. Sounds lik a promis, dosn t it? That s what a vision statmnt is: a commitmnt to your futur, put into words to hlp guid your fforts. Can you draft your vision statmnt now? Writing a Prsonal Mission Statmnt Th nxt stp is to dvlop your mission statmnt. A mission statmnt dscribs your fundamntal purpos. It guids th planning and implmntation of your vision. It s a dscription that ncompasss your own prsonal objctivs, long-trm goals, and guiding philosophy all of which touch your profssional lif, as wll. In a corporat nvironmnt, a mission statmnt is a dscription of what an organization wants to accomplish in businss. Similarly, your own mission statmnt should mbrac your prsonal and profssional goals. And th bst goals com from what motivats you.

4 Goal Stting and Prsonal Mission Statmnt 97 Onc you hav rflctd on your valus and your motivations, you should b abl to craft your mission statmnt without too much troubl. Rmmbr, a mission statmnt should not b th Tn Commandmnts for th rst of your lif. It should projct prhaps thr to fiv yars into th futur. Just as you will do with your vision, you should rvisit your mission statmnt and adjust it as your lif circumstancs chang bcaus thy will chang. Hr s an xampl of a possibl mission statmnt that supports th vision statmnt on th prvious pag: During th nxt four yars in collg I want to achiv xcllnt grads (B+ or highr) in all my courswork. I will also sk xprinc in a ladrship rol in a club, tam, or activity, and I will activly sk intrnships, ntworking opportunitis, and othr hands-on xprinc. In addition, I will voluntr in at last on community srvic organization on a rgular basis. I will kp in clos touch with my family as oftn as possibl and hlp my parnts with my youngr siblings. Notic anything? Th mission statmnt taks th aims of th vision statmnt and maks thm mor concrt. Th ton of th mission statmnt is confidnt and dtrmind. Do any of th aims xprssd in this mission statmnt sm unrasonabl or unrachabl? Now, you try it! Writing SMART Goals to Support a Vision and Mission To bring your vision to lif and accomplish your prsonal mission, you nd to do on mor thing: st som dfinit goals. On way to think about ths goals is to think of your vision and mission as your lif stratgy and your goals as thos tactics that will hlp you work within and toward that stratgy. Think of goals as th dots you connct to crat th pictur dscribd by your vision and mission. Thy ar th short-trm milstons that will kp you on track and hlp you achiv your gratr mission. But how can you writ ffctiv goals? On tchniqu is to writ SMART goals, which you rad about in th sction on tim managmnt. SMART goals hav built-in faturs that hlp you attain thm. Thy ar spcific, masurabl, attainabl, ralistic, and tim bound. Hr s an xampl of how to writ a SMART goal. If your vision, is to b an xcllnt studnt and your mission in support of that is to attain xcllnt grads in all four yars of collg, how xactly do you gt thr? A SMART goal that implmnts thos vision and mission statmnts might b to gt an A in math this smstr by joining and rgularly attnding a study group by th third wk of th trm. Notic how th goal sts a spcific masurabl bnchmark and an attainabl dadlin. You can writ goals for ach of your classs and activitis, if you find that hlpful. What Motivats You? Mony Rcognition Dsir to plas Slf-satisfaction Slf-worth Sns of accomplishmnt Far of failur Physical nds Faith Othrs? goals things you st out to do or achiv short or long trm to fulfill your mission and raliz your vision SMART Goals: Spcific Masurabl Attainabl Ralistic Tim bound Critical Thinking What is th diffrnc btwn a vision statmnt and a mission statmnt? Why ar both important?

5 98 SECTION 4 Th last stp in this procss is to prioritiz your SMART goals. Put thm in ordr of importanc, tim du or tim rquird to complt, ovrall attainability, cost, gographic location, outsid hlp rquird, or othr organizing schm. You should not randomly list your goals; othrwis, you ll wast tim and ffort. Whthr you do th small stuff first and th challnging ons latr or vic vrsa is up to you, but organiz your tim and ffort. Ladrship is not magntic prsonality that can just as wll b a glib tongu. It is not making frinds and influncing popl that is flattry. Ladrship is lifting a prson s vision to highr sights, th raising of a prson s prformanc to a highr standard, th building of a prsonality byond its normal limitations. Ptr Druckr

6 Goal Stting and Prsonal Mission Statmnt 99 CONCLUSION Crafting a prsonal vision statmnt, mission statmnt, and SMART goals is a ky stp in dvloping your idntity as an adult, a collg studnt, an ROTC Cadt, and a futur Army ladr. Vision, mission, and goals will hlp bring out th bst qualitis of your prsonality and mak you a dsirabl rol modl for your prs and your subordinats in th futur. You nvr know th limit of your potntial until you rach it and thn stp furthr. A clar vision, a spcific mission, and dfinit goals ar important tools that will hlp you rach and thn xcd your xpctations. Larning Assssmnt 1. Dfin vision and dscrib a vision statmnt. 2. Dscrib a prsonal mission statmnt and its purpos. 3. Dscrib SMART goals and how thy support a vision and mission. Ky Words vision mission goals Rfrncs Powll, C. (with Prsico, J.). (1995). My Amrican Journy. Nw York: Random Hous, Inc. Dpartmnt of th Army. (1984). Quots for th Military Writr. (Citd in DA PAM , Ladrship Statmnts and Quots. 1 Novmbr 1985.) Rtrivd 12 July 2005 from