I first learned to use the Franklin-Covey planning system about five or six years ago. Only a year or so later, my terrific mother-in-law bought me a copy of Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I worked through the book when I got it and developed a life mission statement.
That was four or so years ago. I am currently in the process of reviewing my life mission statement and rewriting it, while reworking my way through the book.
Here are a couple of things I’m learning:
1. My life mission is less tangible. When I am pressed to think about the things that I really think God is calling me to be about, they are much less tangible than one might think. Gaining possessions, money, and more stuff just doesn’t make the cut. I find that I want to invest in people’s lives and invest in the expansion of God’s coming kingdom.
2. If we don’t live by a core set of values, we are simply chaff in the wind. Reviewing my mission statement has regrounded me in God’s call for my life and is giving me an unwavering desire to live with integrity in Jesus Christ so that I can serve the expansion of God’s kingdom.
3. Relationships become clarified and much less muddy. I realize just how important my wife and my kids are and I have experienced a renewal in just how much I want to be with them and give to them. This, in my opinion, is one of the biggest assets of Covey’s system. It is a “total life” thing. It’s not just about your work. It’s about how you live out a life of values and integrity in all of your roles. My wife will tell you that I am much more like Jesus in my marriage and as a father when I live by my mission statement and my values.
4. Covey often gets a bad wrap from many Christians . . . I’m not sure why that’s the case (maybe because he’s a Mormon). Nonetheless, I have been before the Lord as I rework my mission statement; asking him to infuse it with the power of Jesus so that I am involved in a spirit-filled process of being made more into Jesus’ image.
5. It’s personal . . . a PERSONAL life mission statement. Don’t advertise it. Putting it on the wall of your office or reading it to other people doesn’t make it so. The mission statement must be personally internalized and LIVED OUT . . . people shouldn’t know what you value because you are talking about. They should know what you value because you are living them out.
