What Matters Most: Roles

My personal mission statement:

It is my mission as a: Disciple, husband, son, brother, friend, leader and manager to be defined by my legacy. I will strive to inspire, challenge, encourage, love, teach and respect those around me. This will call for my loyalty, example, leadership, perseverance, and sense of quality and excellence. I will not compromise who I am as a Disciple in all facets of my life. This is my vow to God and all those around me.

If you have read 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey, there is a part that talks about writing a personal mission statement. This has been a process in which I was able to bring it all together last December. When I did it, I had roles in which I knew I would be walking into, or would change based on the new roles. One of them is being a Disciple. I knew it would change, because things were in such limbo for me, I was engaged, I was living with a brother who was struggling with is faith, I had been ask to lead but didn't get much direction for it, I knew I was moving out some time, and my promotion was in it's infant stages. I know it seems weird that the role of a Disciple was not the first thing I had been able to define, but it was something I couldn't boil down to some simple concepts. So here it is.

Disciple

It is my conviction, the basics of being a Disciple of Christ is to have daily devotionals, which include time reading the Bible, praying to God, and an active effort to share my faith in my lifestyle or actively engaging others about my faith.

I must give priority to meetings of the body over other activities in my life. My attendance is not for me to benefit or feel better, rather to encourage others.

I will meet regularly with other Disciples for times to confess my struggles to be righteous and be held accountable to living a righteous life.

Anyway, I hope this helps you on what you are trying to achieve in your life. I suggest fighting for living in this way:

1. Have a mission statement you feel is timeless (take a snapshot of your life and write your mission statement based on it right now)
2. Define values that are personal to you (the fewer there is, the easier it is to point your internal compass)
3. Create creative titles to the roles in your life (instead of Friend I have Friendship Provider, because I provide friendship to my friends)

I have applied this to my time management system and I feel like I get more accomplished as a result. It also can beat you up when you do not accomplish these things, and you don't need some one to make you feel bad about not getting certain things done. Have a great day!