Stephen R. Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Eff People pdf

Identifying Roles and Goals
 
Of course, the logical/verbal left brain becomes important also as you attempt to capture 
your right-brain images, feelings, and pictures in the words of a written mission statement. 
Just as breathing exercises help integrate body and mind, writing is a kind of psycho-
neural muscular activity which helps bridge and integrate the conscious and subconscious 
minds. Writing distills, crystallizes, and clarifies thought and helps break the whole into 
parts.
We each have a number of different roles in our lives -- different areas or capacities in 
which we have responsibility. I may, for example, have a role as an individual, a 
husband, a father, a teacher, a church member, and a businessman. And each of these 
roles is important.
One of the major problems that arises when people work to become more effective in life 
is that they don't think broadly enough. They lose the sense of proportion, the balance, 
the natural ecology necessary to effective living. They may get consumed by work and 
neglect personal health. In the name of professional success, they may neglect the most 
precious relationships in their lives.
You may find that your mission statement will be much more balanced, much easier to 
work with, if you break it down into the specific role areas of your life and the goals you 
want to accomplish in each area. Look at your professional role. You might be a 
salesperson, or a manager, or a product developer. What are you about in that area? 
What are the values that should guide you? Think of your personal roles -- husband, 
wife, father, mother, neighbor, friend. What are you about in those roles? What's 
important to you? Think of community roles -- the political area, public service, volunteer 
organizations.
One executive has used the idea of roles and goals to create the following mission 
statement:
My mission is to live with integrity and to make a difference in the lives of others.