What if there was a way students could feel confident about their college search? If there were one tool that would guarantee students chose the right school for them, how much would that be worth?
Here at The Unbranded Student, we believe we’ve found that tool, and the best part is: It’s FREE!
The tool we’re talking about is a mission statement. Corporations, churches, schools, families, and many adults swear their mission statement is an essential key to their success. Stephen Covey explains: “Your mission statement becomes your constitution, the solid expression of your vision and values. It becomes the criterion by which you measure everything else in your life.”
The college search isn’t just about picking a school or a major or that first job out of college; it’s about making a series of choices that work together to chart the course of a student’s life.
Having a mission statement takes the guesswork out of that process.
How does a student write a meaningful mission statement?
Relieve the pressure. This doesn’t have to be elaborate or set in stone. In fact, the best mission statements are specific enough to provide meaning but broad enough to change as people evolve over time. Your student’s mission statement doesn’t have to be perfect; it just has to be thoughtful and genuine. It just has to answer the question: Why?
Start with strengths. When students examine factors like their personality, passions, and strengths, they begin to form a picture of who they are. From there it gets easier to articulate why they have the goals, desires, and dreams they imagine for their future.
Go to the source. Writing the mission statement is all about boiling this self-knowledge down to the most essential elements. When students explore the universal motivation that drives their desires, decisions, and dreams, they’re able to articulate their life mission. They start to glimpse that one thing that makes them feel most alive.
When a student begins to articulate that singular mission, that driving force, that ultimate motivation in their lives, they gain an incredible sense of clarity. Faced with a new opportunity or a tough life decision, they look to their mission statement to guide them, to remind them of who they are, what they want, and the why that infuses their life with meaning. From there, finding the right college is within any student’s grasp.
For more tips on how to help your student write their mission statement, check out The Unbranded Student book and five-week online companion course.