It is important to know what you are about before taking your first step into your new life. A Personal Vision / Mission Statement can help clarify the path and keep you on it in the future, should you get confused or lost. It is a fluid container for your future self.
STEP 1: Think about what is important to you. What makes you feel fulfilled and happy? Teaching, writing, helping others, making money, etc. Make a list of these things.
STEP 2: List your strengths. Now combine these two lists and extrapolate a statement of who you are, what you bring to others and what you want to bring to the world. This is your Self Definition. Here, by way of example is mine.
STEP 3: Envision the following: the perfect lifestyle, job, relationship, home, finances, etc. Be as specific as possible: where do you want to live, who do you want to be with, what do you want to be doing? Don't be afraid to dream big: this is brainstorming! It is important at this stage not to limit your imagination (or yourself).
STEP 4 (optional): If you are having problems creating positive scenarios, then write down, by way of contrast, a list of what is NOT working in your life on the left side of a piece of paper. Draw a line down the middle of the sheet of paper and write down the positive opposite of each point on the right side. Now that you know what you want, you can stop focusing on what you don't want (thereby attracting more of that negative stuff to you) and focus instead on what you DO want. You might want to tear or cut the sheet of paper in the middle and ceremoniously burn it, as a kind of confirmation of your new focus.
STEP 5: Now, given your new information, write a paragraph of the life you want, in the present tense, as if you are already living it. Here is an example of a Vision / Mission Statement.
