Habit #2Begin with the

End in MindBased on the work Stephen Covey

A Personal Mission

Statement• It is a personal motto or creed that

states what your life is about. It is

like a blueprint for your life.

(glossary)

• They come in all sorts of ways:

poems, songs, quotes, or

photographs....

• Some examples follow:

Sample Mission Statements

• Family Mission Statement Examples

Another example from a NC teen Adam Sosne

• Have confidence in

yourself and

everyone else

around you

• Be kind, courteous,

and respectful to all

people

• Set reachable goals

• Never take the

simple things in life

for granted

• Appreciate other

people’s differences

and see their

differences as a

great advantage

•Ask questions

•Strive each day to reach

interdependence

•Remember that before you

can change someone else,

you must first change yourself

•Speak with actions, not with

your words

•Make time to help those less

fortunate than yourself or

those who are having a bad

day

Read this mission statement every day

So What Can A Mission Statement Do For You?

• The most important value in a

mission statement is it will open your

eyes to what is really important to

you and help you make decisions

accordingly. (write in your notes)

So What Can A Mission Statement Do For You?

• A mission statement is like a tree

with deep roots. It is stable and isn’t

going anywhere but it keeps

growing. You need deep roots to

survive all of life’s storms.

• There are too many events you

can’t control (boyfriends/girlfriends,

popularity/moving/war/parents/fads)

• The personal mission statement is

your tree that never moves in the

storm (add this to your notes from

slide 5)

Journal Entry orDiscussion

Starter:

What is “the end” for you? What do you hope to be

doing ten years from now? Twenty? Make a list of things you want to do in your life.

Just think about this…

Before you figure out the “end”, you have to take a

look at who YOU are!

Draw a picture of

something that represents

you. It could be an

animal, plant, machine, a

food, etc. Explain why

you chose what you did.

Do this in your notebook

In ten years a newspaper decides to do a story about YOU! They interview four

people about you. These could be friends or family. What would you want them to

say about you? Just think about this…

MISSION STATEMENT DRAFT

Use slides 11 – 13 to help create your mission statement. You

could do this brainstorm in your notebook or back of purple paper I

gave you yesterday.

Mission Statement, Part 1:Write your name in a circle. Out from the circle, write words

that describe you.

Ben

kind

athleticartistic

reader

Mission Statement, Part 2:Now think about what kind of person you WANT to be.

Make a list.

I want to be a:

1.Hard worker

2.Good student

3.Kind person

4.Talented artist

Mission Statement, Part 3:Use the two lists to write a mission statement. This is a

sentence or paragraph about the person you want to be. Here are some example:

My mission is to:

•Laugh a lot

•Learn as much I can

•Work hard at home, school and in my sports

•Be kind to others

•Take good care of myself.

•To get better at my art.

How good are you at beginning with the end in

mind?

I always keep the end in mind.

I only think about today.

Why did you rate yourself this way?

Think about this…

Finish these sentences:

~If my future had no limits, I would choose to be…..

~I want to be a person who…

Answer these two questions in your notebook

Answ

er th

ese tw

o q

uestio

ns in

your n

ote

book

Credits:This slide show was created by

Rebecca Radicchi using the following resources.

1. The Seven Habits for Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

2. The Seven Habits for Highly Effective Kids by Sean Covey

3. The Seven Habits for Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey