Mission statement

I attended a Women in Management event last night. The speaker was the director of psychosocial oncology at Rush University Medical Center. I had the pleasure of sitting at the head table with her and chatting before her "talk". After dinner she was introduced and went up to the podium to speak. Her lecture was going to be on the "roller coaster of change". I immediately thought "this should be interesting". She began by talking about how some people fear change while others embrace it as a challenge. Her talk went on and it was very interesting, and then she struck a cord. She talked about how her patients often have fear of the unknown. She went on to say that she often asks her patients "Whats the worst thing that could happen"? After they answer she asks them "and if that does happen, what will you do"? This was fascinating to me. It really got me thinking about my own decision making. I realized that often times i shy away from making a decision if im not sure how things will turn out. Then that got my wheels spinning. At some point in her speech she talked about Jim Collins book "Good to Great". She talked about getting people in the right seats on the bus. Having read the book i was very familiar with what she was talking about. That is when it hit me. Every Great company or organization has a mission statement. I know we have one where i work and it is ingrained in our heads. Every time a new idea comes up the question is posed - "Does it fit within the mission of the organization?" That is how decisions are made. If it fits within the mission its a go - if not the suggestion is scratched. So why is it that as children we are not taught to come up with a personal mission statement? If we all had a firm grip on what our core values are, on what we believe in, and what our personal mission is then every dilemma we faced could be challenged with, does it fit within my core values, what i believe and my mission. How much easier it would be to make decisions with that background to lean on. So i pose the question to you. What are your core values? Have you developed an individual mission statement? What is it? This is not something that can happen with the snap of a finger. Companies spend weeks, sometimes years contemplating the wording of their mission statement. This is something that will take dedication and time. It is though invaluable once you have it. All situations can be evaluated on the basis of do they fit within my mission. It would be so much easier to make decisions if i knew what my own personal mission statement was.