Monthly Archives: November 2018

What Generation Are You In?

#justbecauseyoushouldknow, #pieedu, Educational News

By 
Founder and Career Coach
CareerPlanner.com

See our new article: Millenials, The Mystery Generation

These are Western Cultural Generations. Japan and Asia and portions of Europe will have their own generational definitions based on major cultural, political, and economic influences.

Which Generation are You?

Generation Name Births
Start		 Births
End		 Youngest
Age Today*		 Oldest Age
Today*
The Lost Generation
The Generation of 1914		 1890 1915 103 128
The Interbellum Generation 1901 1913 105 117
The Greatest Generation 1910 1924 94 108
The Silent Generation 1925 1945 73 93
Baby Boomer Generation 1946 1964 54 72
Generation X (Baby Bust) 1965 1979 39 53
Xennials
 1975 1985 33 43
Millennials
Generation Y, Gen Next		 1980 1994 24 38
iGen / Gen Z 1995 2012 6 23
Gen Alpha 2013 2025 1 5

(*age if still alive today)

Note: Dates are approximate and there is some overlap because there are no standard definitions for when a generation begins and ends. See the section below about why this overlap.

Note: Sources for our data are listed at bottom of page.

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Notes on Each of the Latest Cultural Generations

iGen / Gen Z: Born between 1995 and 2012

As of 2017 most of these folks are still too young to have made an impact. However the older ones might be fighting our war in Afghanistan. The younger ones are hopefully still in school and planning on careers and jobs that will have strong demand and generate new opportunities.

I’m personally optimistic about the iGen’ers.

According to Jean Twenge PhD., author of “iGen, Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy ….“, iGens are different in these respects:

(Jean Twenge’s writings on generations differs from others. She uses historical surveys and 1 on 1 interviews, rather than just theorizing and speculating. She is a serious researcher, and a professor at San Diego University)

iGen’ers are:

    • Much more tolerant of others – different cultures, sexual orientations, races
    • More cautious, less risk taking
    • Less drinking and drug taking in high school
    • Less likely to go to church
    • More likely to think for themselves and not believe authority figures in church or government
    • Delaying having serious romantic relationships
    • Less teen pregnancy
    • Fewer run aways
    • Delaying driving, and fewer teen driving accidents
    • Less time spent in shopping malls
    • Less likely to go out to see a movie
    • More likely to use Instagram than Facebook

Whereas Millenials were raised to think they were special and that they could become anything they dreamed of, and then after graduating they found that Boomers had let millions of jobs slip out of the country, iGen’ers have seen this, and are far more cautious and less optimistic and maybe less naive.

On the potentially negative side, iGens are known for:

  • Less “in person” and “face to face” contact with others due to more time connecting via smart phones
  • Heavy use of gaming
  • Less reading of books, and newspapers
  • Grew up more supervised, more protected than prior generations
  • Less experience with teen jobs and earning money in high school
  • May stay up till 2 AM using smart phone and social media
  • Possibly more depressed than prior generations
  • Feels more lonely, and not needed
  • Possibly a higher suicide rate

 

Careers for iGen’ers-You Need Either Skills or Education

If you are iGen and looking for a career, please pick a major in fields where there will be plenty of jobs and avoid fields where the jobs are limited. Unless of course you are so different and truly one of a kind like: Michael Jordan, Prince, The Beatles, Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian (just kidding).

You have two choices – pick a trade or get the right college education. Low skilled jobs will continue to disappear and you can not raise a family on the income from a low skilled job. You either need skills or education.

Healthcare and high tech are the booming fields now and that will continue for decades.

Thus careers in science, engineering, software, and medicine are a good choice.

There won’t be many jobs for people who major in English, history, philosophy etc. Sorry.

Electrical Engineering and Software Engineering look really good. As does nursing, and being a family doctor.

Civil Engineering offers very few jobs since we are not building a lot of bridges and buildings. So avoid that.

Automotive engineering is tough. Not many US jobs except in the electric car field.

Jobs that must be done in person such as plumbers, electricians, barbers, beauticians, should still be in demand, although lower paying than jobs requiring a college education. The trades are more stable than many other careers.

Sales jobs will continue to shrink. Retails sales jobs are disappearing as shopping malls close and as Amazon takes over the world. Sales people are usually just middlemen. Who needs them? Sorry… However, sales people that do business development and find new customers are a different story. But the days of being a shoe salesman in a mall store are gone.

Business development and marketing are still good fields, but will see some unexpected changes.

The auto mechanic field is going to go through interesting changes with the growth of electric vehicles and self driving vehicles. EV’s have less moving parts and fewer fluids to replace, but they still need tire changes.

Taxi driver jobs and truck driver jobs will start to experience less demand as automated vehicles take over. However, as of 2018, the demand for truck drivers is booming.

As automated electric vehicles take over, the need for individuals to own a car will be reduced. It will become more simple, less expensive, and more efficient to just walk outside, call up an app, have a driver-less Uber pick you up and take you to wherever you want to go. As long as a car can show up in 5 minutes or so, that will be the way to go. Owning your own car is not efficient, nor a good investment. Cars sit around doing nothing for 98% of their existence. They take up space, they consume your money on insurance and repairs even while they are just sitting doing nothing. How this will affect jobs, careers and the workplace will be interesting, and iGen’ers will be the first to experience this.

Space flight related jobs will pick up as we focus on getting people to the moon, Mars, and space stations.

Geology jobs, especially related to finding minerals on other planets should see a rise in demand.

Virtual Reality related jobs (whatever those are?) will pick up as VR technology becomes ubiquitous. Probably creating VR experiences will be popular.

The generation after the iGen’ers will be the ones who grow up thinking virtual reality is normal.

See our new article: Millenials, The Mystery Generation

Gen Y: “The Millennials” Born between 1980 and 1994

The Millennials grew up and began their careers in a time when:

  • Almost every home (except 3rd world countries) had an internet connection and a computer
  • 2008, the largest economic decline since the great depression
  • 911 Terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon
  • The effect of 20+ years of offshoring of American jobs is finally felt
  • Enron – energy trading scams and corporate fraud on a national level
  • Global warming becoming obvious with unusually severe storms, hotter weather, colder weather, more droughts etc
  • President G. W. Bush, Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney deceived the entire nation about weapons of mass destruction of the nuclear and biological type and the subsequent invasion and occupation of Iraq
  • The explosive growth in online companies such as Google, Facebook, SalesForce.com, LinkedIn, EBay, PayPal
  • A revolution in the way we work, including widespread acceptance of flex-time, work from home, freelancing
  • The US is divided 50:50 with different and opposite fundamental beliefs and values
  • Way too many crazy people are shooting their fellow Americans with weapons of rapid destruction
  • Congress becoming dysfunctional
  • Housing prices growing beyond most young people’s reach

 

Xennials

The cohort known as “Xennials” are composed of the oldest Millenials. This is a “crossover generation.”

Born roughly between 1975 and 1985 plus or minus a few years.

The idea being that Xennials are more like the preceding Gen X than they are like Millenials.

According to Australian Sociologist, Dan Woodman, “The theory goes that the Xennials dated, and often formed ongoing relationships, pre-social media. They usually weren’t on Tinder or Grindr, for their first go at dating at least. They called up their friends and the person they wanted to ask out on a landline phone, hoping that it wasn’t their intended date’s parent who picked up.”

 

Gen X: Born between 1965 and 1979

According to WikiPedia, Gen X was originally called “Gen Bust” because their birth rate was vastly smaller than the preceding Baby Boomers.

Gen X’ers were the first generation to experience:

  • The highest level of education in the US to date
  • The 1976 Arab Oil Debacle and the first gas shortages in the US
  • The price of gold soaring to $1000/oz for the first time
  • The fall of the Berlin Wall and the splitting apart of the Soviet Union
  • MTV and the rise of Disco
  • China’s momentary flirtation with personal freedom and the tragedy of Tiananmen Square
  • Fighting in the first Gulf War
  • NAFTA where President Bill Clinton paves the way to give away millions of American jobs

 

Baby Boomers: Born between 1946 and 1964

Baby Boomers are defined as being from the huge population increase that followed World War II, and the Great Depression.

They grew up in a time of prosperity and an absence of world wars. They were the Flower Children, taking LSD and protesting the war in Vietnam.

Unlike their parents who grew up during the Great Depression, Boomers became the great consumers. They became famous for spending every dollar they earned.

This was the first Western Generation to grow up with two cars in every garage and a chicken in every pot.

Baby Boomer spending and consumerism has fueled the world economies.

The Baby Boomers fought for environmental protection.

Baby Boomers were the first generation to experience:

  • A time of unparalleled national optimism and prosperity
  • The Cold War, fear of a nuclear attack from Russia, bomb shelters and hiding under a desk at school
  • The assassination of President John F. Kennedy
  • The assassination of Martin Luther King
  • The confidence building from putting a man on the moon
  • The incredible waste and destruction of the War in Vietnam
  • The Civil Rights Movement

 

The Silent Generation: Born between 1925 and 1945

Those of the Silent Generation were born during the Great Depression. Their parents were mostly of the Lost Generation.

They grew up expecting a hard life. This was the era when a Christmas present might be a orange or a full meal.

They are called the Silent Generation because as a group they were not loud. They did not protest in Washington. There were no major wars to protest.

 

The Greatest Generation: Born between 1910 and 1924

Those of the Greatest Generation grew up during the Great Depression and probably fought in World War II. They are also known as the GI Joe Generation.

They are the parents of the Baby Boomers.

They were named the Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw, famous News Broadcaster. Brokaw said they were the greatest because they fought for what was right rather than fighting for selfish reasons.

They certainly made great self sacrifices, fighting to protect people in other countries from the likes of Hitler, Mussolini and Japanese Kamikaze suicide bombers.

Makes one wonder what they will call those bankers and insurance company executives who fought only for personal gain thus creating the 2007-2009 financial collapse.

 

Primary Sources for our Data on Generations:

 

Some Interesting Articles Regarding Generations

Who are the “Xennials” by Sociologist Dan Woodman

Deciding when generations begin and end – Generational Splits

 

 

Why the Overlap in Dating Generations?

In the USA, there are two different methods for marking the borders between generations.

The US Census Bureau appears to use census data (duh) and the rise and fall of the birth rate to mark borders between generations.

Other researchers, such as Pew, use major cultural events to define the borders between generations.

Here is an example of using the birth rate fluctuations to define borders between generations:

annual birth rate chart

(Sources: Harvard Joint Center on Housing Perspectives)

(Sources: US Census B – National Vital Statistics)

 

Here is how Pew Research defines generations:

Pew research definitions of generations

(Source: Pew Research )

 

At CareerPlanner.com we have recently chosen to use the cultural method rather than the birth rate method for deciding when a generation begins and ends. The reason is that we are more interested in the cultural events that shaped a person’s thinking.

What Generation Are You If You Are On The Cusp?

If your birth date falls on the border between two generations, which one do you pick?

Pick the generation that you relate to the most, and the one you want to be part of.

Why so arbitrary? This is not a precise science with firm definitions.

 

Updates and Revisions

On 10-21-2017 we added info on iGen, and changed their start date from 1996 to 1995, and changed Millennials end date from 1995 to 1994. To be consistent with Jean Twenge PhD’s work. Also changed iGen end date from 2010 to 2012 for the same reason.

On 10-7-2017 we start to refer to Gen Z as “iGen” based on a book by Generation researcher Jean M. Twenge PhD.

On 8-11-2017 we added a section on Xennials.

On 9-29-2016 we made the following adjustments to the date ranges of Gen x, Millenials, Gen Z:

  • Changed Gen X last births date from 1981 to 1979
  • Changed Millennial start birth date from 1975 to 1980
  • Changed Gen Z start birth date from 1995 to 1996
  • Changed Gen Z last births date from 2015 to 2010

On 11-9-2016 we made these changes, based on further research:

  • Changed Silent Generation start from 1923 to 1925 and end from 1944 to 1945 based on more research
  • Changed the end of births for the greatest generation from 1925 to 1924 – for the convenience of having less overlap
  • Changed Gen X start from 1961 to 1965 – and end back to 1979 – based on more research and to be consistent with Pew

Why make these changes? The cut off dates for each generation vary over time as the characteristics of that generation become more well understood. In the US, it appears demographers are trying to stick to ranges of 15 years (Japan uses 10 years). Finally, as the public pays more attention to generations, such as Millenials, certain dates become more accepted.

The bottom line is that the experts do not agree on when generations begin and end. Sorry for this confusion. I would prefer to have things nice and tidy, precise and exact.

On 5-30-2017 I clarified that the weapons of mass destruction the Bush Administration lied to us about, was of the nuclear and biological types. They did find chemical weapons which are considered WMDs (I did not know that), although that’s not what scared us into war. It was the fear that Iraq could use nuclear and bio weapons against us. They already had a history of using chemical weapons against their neighbors and their own people.

Phones and Middle School

#bethebestyoucanbe, #justbecauseyoushouldknow, #pieedu, 21st Century Learning, Disorders, Technology

Middle School Misfortunes Then and Now, One Teacher’s Take

Middle school 2008 vs 2018.jpg

By: Benjamin Conlon

Let’s imagine a seventh grader. He’s a quiet kid, polite, with a few friends. Just your ordinary, run-of-the-mill twelve-year-old. We’ll call him Brian. Brian’s halfway through seventh grade and for the first time, he’s starting to wonder where he falls in the social hierarchy at school. He’s thinking about his clothes a little bit, his shoes too. He’s conscious of how others perceive him, but he’s not that conscious of it.

He goes home each day and from the hours of 3 p.m. to 7 a.m., he has a break from the social pressures of middle school. Most evenings, he doesn’t have a care in the world. The year is 2008.

Brian has a cell phone, but it’s off most of the time. After all, it doesn’t do much. If friends want to get in touch, they call the house. The only time large groups of seventh graders come together is at school dances. If Brian feels uncomfortable with that, he can skip the dance. He can talk to teachers about day-to-day problems. Teachers have pretty good control over what happens at school.

Now, let’s imagine Brian on a typical weekday. He goes downstairs and has breakfast with his family. His mom is already at work, but his dad and sisters are there. They talk to each other over bowls of cereal. The kids head off to school soon after. Brian has a fine morning in his seventh grade classroom and walks down to the lunchroom at precisely 12 p.m.

There’s a slick of water on the tiled floor near the fountain at the back of the cafeteria. A few eighth graders know about it, and they’re laughing as yet another student slips and tumbles to the ground.

Brian buys a grilled cheese sandwich. It comes with tomato soup that no one ever eats. He polishes off the sandwich and heads to the nearest trashcan to dump the soup. When his sneakers hit the water slick, he slips just like the others. The tomato soup goes up in the air and comes down on his lap.

Nearby, at the table of eighth graders, a boy named Mark laughs. He laughs at Brian the same way the boys around him laugh at Brian. They laugh because they’re older, and they know something the younger kids don’t. They laugh at the slapstick nature of the fall. The spilled tomato soup is a bonus. The fall is a misfortune for Brian. That’s all. It’s not an asset for Mark. A few kids hear the laughter and look over, but Brian gets up quickly and rushes off to the bathroom to change into his gym shorts.

Mark tries to retell the story to a friend later. The friend doesn’t really get it because he wasn’t there. He can’t picture it. In fact, Mark seems a little mean for laughing at all.

After lunch, Brian returns to homeroom in his gym shorts. No one seems to notice the change. He breathes a sigh of relief. The cafeteria fall is behind him. He meets his sisters at the end of the day and they ask why he’s wearing gym shorts. He tells them he spilled some tomato sauce on his pants. They head home and spend the afternoon and evening together, safe and sound, home life completely separate from school life. Brian doesn’t think about the incident again. Only a few people saw it. It’s over.

Now, let’s imagine Brian again. Same kid. Same family. Same school. He’s still in seventh grade, but this time it’s 2018.

When Brian sits down for breakfast, his dad is answering an email at the table. His older sister is texting, and his younger sister is playing a video game. Brian has an iPhone too. He takes it out and opens the Instagram app. The Brian from 2008 was wondering about his position in the social hierarchy. The Brian from 2018 knows. He can see it right there on the screen. He has fewer ‘followers’ than the other kids in his grade. That’s a problem. He wants to ask his father what to do, but there’s that email to be written. Instead, Brian thinks about it all morning at school. While his teacher talks, he slips his phone out and checks to see how many ‘followers’ the other kids in class have. The answer doesn’t help his confidence. At precisely 12 p.m., he heads to the cafeteria. He buys a grilled cheese. It comes with tomato soup that no one ever eats.

At the back of the lunchroom, Mark sits with the other eighth graders. He holds a shiny new iPhone in one hand. Mark has had an iPhone for five years. He’s got all the apps. Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. He’s got lots of followers too. He doesn’t know all of them, but that’s okay.

A few years ago, Mark made his first Instagram post. It was a picture of his remote control car. Mark used to really enjoy remote control cars. Mark checked Instagram an hour after putting up that first picture. A bright red dot showed at the bottom of the page. He clicked it. Someone had ‘liked’ the picture of the car. Mark felt validated. It was good that he posted the picture. A little bit of dopamine was released into Mark’s brain. He checked the picture an hour later. Sure enough, another ‘like’. More dopamine. He felt even better.

For a while, pictures of the remote control car were sufficient. They generated enough ‘likes’ to keep Mark happy. He no longer got much joy from actually driving the remote control car, but he got plenty from seeing those ‘likes’ pile up.

Then something started to happen. The ‘likes’ stopped coming in. People didn’t seem interested in the pictures of the car anymore. This made Mark unhappy. He missed the ‘likes’ and the dopamine that came with them. He needed them back. He needed more exciting pictures, because exciting pictures would bring more views and more ‘likes’. So, he decided to drive his car right out into the middle of the road. He had his little brother film the whole thing. He filmed the remote control car as it got flattened by a passing truck. Mark didn’t bother to collect it. He just grabbed his phone and posted the video. It was only a few minutes before the ‘likes’ started coming in. He felt better.

Now it’s eighth grade and Mark has become addicted to social media.  Sure, he needs a lot more ‘likes’ to get the same feeling, but that’s okay. That just means he needs more content. Good content. Content no one else has. That’s the kind that gets a lot of ‘likes’, really, really fast. Mark has learned the best content comes from filming and posting the embarrassing experiences of classmates.

When he notices that water slick at the back of the cafeteria, he’s ready.  Each time someone walks by and falls, their misfortune becomes an asset for Mark. A part of Mark wants them to fall. He hopes they fall.

Brian walks across the cafeteria with his soup, minding his own business. Suddenly, his feet slide out from under him. The tomato soup goes up in the air and comes down on his lap. He’s so embarrassed, that when he stands up and rushes off to the bathroom, he doesn’t notice Mark filming.

Mark’s fingers race over his iPhone screen before Brian is out of sight. That was a great video he just took, and he wants to get it online. Fast. He knows he’s not supposed to have his cell phone out in school, but the teachers really only enforce that rule during class. They all use Twitter and Instagram too. They understand.

Mark doesn’t know who he just filmed, and he doesn’t care. It’s not his fault the kid fell on the floor. He’s just the messenger. The video is a kind of public service announcement. He’s just warning everyone else about the water spot in the cafeteria. That’s what Mark tells himself.

He gets the video uploaded to Snapchat first. No time for a caption. It speaks for itself. He has it up on Instagram seconds later. By then, the ‘likes’ are already coming in. Dopamine floods into Mark’s brain. There’s a comment on Instagram already! “What a loser!” it says. Mark gives the comment a ‘like’. Best to keep the audience happy.

This has been a rewarding lunch. The bell’s going to ring in a few minutes. Mark sits back and refreshes his screen again and again and again until it does.

Meanwhile, Brian heads back from the bathroom, having changed into his gym shorts. He’s still embarrassed about the fall. It happened near the back of the cafeteria, though. He doesn’t think many people saw. He hopes they didn’t. But when he walks into the classroom, a lot of people look at him. One girl holds her phone up at an odd angle. Is she…taking a picture? The phone comes down quickly and she starts typing, so he can’t be sure.

Class begins. Brian is confused because people keep slipping their phones out and glancing back at him. He asks to go to the bathroom. Inside a stall, he opens Instagram. There he is on the screen, covered in tomato sauce. How could this be? Who filmed this? Below the video, a new picture has just appeared. It’s him in his gym shorts. The caption reads, “Outfit change!”

Brian scrolls frantically through the feed trying to find the source of the video. He can’t. It’s been shared and reshared too many times. He notices his follower count has dropped. He doesn’t want to go to class. He just wants it to stop.

He meets his sisters outside at the end of the day. Several students snap pictures as he walks by. Neither sister says a word. Brian knows why.

Home was a safe place for Brian in 2008. Whatever happened in school, stayed in school. Not now. Brian arrives at his house, heart thundering, and heads straight to his bedroom. He’s supposed to be doing homework, but he can’t concentrate. Alone in the dark, he refreshes his iPhone again and again and again and again.

Brian’s family is having his favorite dish for dinner, but he doesn’t care. He wants it to be over so he can get back to his phone. Twice, he goes to the bathroom to check Instagram. His parents don’t mind, they’re checking their own phones.

Brian discovers that two new versions of the video have been released. One is set to music and the other has a nasty narration. Both have lots of comments. He doesn’t know how to fight back, so he just watches as the view counts rise higher and higher. His own follower count, his friend count, keeps going in the opposite direction. Brian doesn’t want to be part of this. He doesn’t like this kind of thing. He can’t skip it though. It’s not like the dance. And he can’t tell a teacher. This isn’t happening at school.

He stays up all night refreshing the feed, hoping the rising view count will start to slow. Mark is doing the same thing at the other side of town. He has lots of new followers. This is his best video ever.

At 3 a.m., they both turn off their lights and stare up at their respective ceilings. Mark smiles. He hopes tomorrow something even more embarrassing happens to a different kid. Then he can film that and get even more ‘likes’. Across town, Brian isn’t smiling, but sadly, he’s hoping for exactly the same thing.

From the Author

I started teaching in 2009. At that time, public school was very much the way I remembered it. That’s not the case anymore. Smartphones and social media have transformed students into creatures craving one thing: content. It’s a sad state of affairs.

But there’s hope.

Over the last few years, my students have become increasingly interested in stories from the days before smartphones and social media. In the same way many adults look back fondly on simpler times, kids look back to second and third grade, when no one had a phone. I think a lot of them already miss those days.

Smartphones and social media aren’t going anywhere. Both are powerful tools, with many benefits. But they have fundamentally altered how children interact with the world and not in a good way. We can change that. In addition to the “Wait Until 8th” pledge, consider taking the following steps to help your children reclaim childhood.

  1. Propose that administrators and teachers stop using social media for school related purposes. In many districts teachers are encouraged to employ Twitter and Instagram for classroom updates. This is a bad thing. It normalizes the process of posting content without consent and teaches children that everything exciting is best viewed through a recording iPhone. It also reinforces the notion that ‘likes’ determine value. Rather than reading tweets from your child’s teacher, talk to your children each day. Ask what’s going on in school. They’ll appreciate it.
  2. Insist that technology education include a unit on phone etiquette, the dark sides of social media and the long-term ramifications of posting online. Make sure students hear from individuals who have unwittingly and unwillingly been turned into viral videos.
  3. Tell your children stories from your own childhood. Point out how few of them could have happened if smartphones had been around. Remind your children that they will some day grow up and want stories of their own. An afternoon spent online doesn’t make for very good one.
  4. Teach your children that boredom is important. They should be bored. Leonardo Da Vinci was bored. So was Einstein. Boredom breeds creativity and new ideas and experiences. Cherish boredom.
  5. Remind them that, as the saying goes, adventures don’t come calling like unexpected cousins. They have to be found. Tell them to go outside and explore the real world. Childhood is fleeting. It shouldn’t be spent staring at a screen.

 

Benjamin Conlon is a public school teacher and author of The Slingshot’s Secret, a middle school mystery for anyone trying to find old-fashioned adventure in the digital age. Benjamin grew up in New England and spent much of his childhood exploring the woods surrounding his hometown. After college, he began teaching elementary school. He wrote The Slingshot’s Secret as a reminder that even in a world filled with technology, adventure abounds.

 

Please consider delaying the smartphone for your child with the Wait Until 8th pledge. There are so many reasons to wait. Currently the average age a child receives a smartphone is 10 years old despite the many distractions and dangers that comes with this technology. Join more than 15,000 parents by signing the pledge today.

Never miss a Wait Until 8th blog. Sign up today. 

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Create your PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENTS

#bethebestyoucanbe, #justbecauseyoushouldknow, #pieedu, #whyamIhere, 21st Century Learning

Steven Covey (in his book First Things First) refers to developing a mission statement as “connecting with your own unique purpose and the profound satisfaction that comes from fulfilling it.”

 

The Five-Step Plan for Creating Personal Mission Statements

by LiveCareer Staff Writer

by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.

Steps for Developing a Personal Mission Statement

Step 1: Identify Past Successes.
Spend some time identifying four or five examples where you have had personal success in recent years. These successes could be at work, in your community, at home, etc. Write them down. Try to identify whether there is a common theme (or themes) to these examples.

Step 2: Identify Core Values.
Develop a list of attributes that you believe identify who you are and what your priorities are. The list can be as long as you need.

Once your list is complete, see if you can narrow your values down to around five or six of the most important values. Finally, see if you can choose the one value that is most important to you.

Step 3: Identify Contributions.
Make a list of the ways you could make a difference. In an ideal situation, how could you contribute best to:

the world in general | your family | your employer or future employers | your friends | your community

Step 4: Identify Goals.
Spend some time thinking about your priorities in life and the goals you have for yourself.

Make a list of your personal goals, perhaps in the short-term (up to three years) and the long-term (beyond three years).

Step 5: Write Mission Statement.
Based on the first four steps and a better understanding of yourself, begin writing your personal mission statement.

Sample Personal Mission Statement Development

1. Past successes:

a) Developed new product features for stagnant product
b) Part of a team that developed a new positioning statement for product
c) Helped child’s school with fundraiser that was wildly successful
d) Increased turnout for the opening of a new local theater company

Themes: past successes all relate to creative problem solving and execution of a solution.

2. Core values:

Hard-working | Industrious | Creativity | Problem-Solving | Friendly | Outgoing | Positive | Family-oriented | Decision-maker | Compassionate | Spiritual | Analytical

Most important core values (ranked according to importance):

Problem-Solving | Creativity | Analytical | Compassionate | Decision-maker | Positive

Most important overall core value: Creativity

3. Identify Contributions:

The world in general: develop products and services that help people achieve what they want in life. To have a lasting impact on the way people live their lives.

My family: to be a leader in terms of personal outlook, compassion for others, and maintaining an ethical code; to be a good father and husband; to leave the world a better place for my children and their children.

My employer or future employers: to lead by example and demonstrate how innovative and problem-solving products can be successful both in terms of solving a problem and successful in terms of profitability and revenue generation for the organization.

My friends: to always have a hand held out for my friends; for them to know they can always come to me with any problem.

My community: to use my talents in such a way as to give back to my community.

4. Identify Goals:

Short-term: To continue my career with a progressive employer that allows me to use my skills, talent, and values to achieve success for the firm.

Long-term: To develop other outlets for my talents and develop a longer-term plan for diversifying my life and achieving both professional and personal success.

5. Mission Statement:

To live life completely, honestly, and compassionately, with a healthy dose of realism mixed in with imagination, and to know that all things are possible if one sets their mind to finding an answer.

Final Thoughts on Developing a Personal Mission Statement

A personal mission statement is, of course, personal. But if you want to truly see whether you have been honest in developing your personal mission statement, I suggest sharing the results of the process with one or more people who are close to you. Ask for their feedback. And develop further from there, if necessary.

Finally, remember that a mission statement is not meant to be written once and blasted into stone. You should set aside some time annually to review your career, job, goals, and mission statement — and make adjustments as necessary.

And for more ideas on creating a personal mission statement, read one of our other articles, Using a Personal Mission Statement to Chart Your Career Course, which includes links to other mission-building exercises. Also, know that LiveCareer has all of your career needs covered. When it comes time to start applying for jobs, put our Resume Builder and Cover Letter Builder to use and generate winning, attention-getting documents in no time at all!

Dr. Randall S. Hansen is founder of Quintessential Careers, one of the oldest and most comprehensive career development sites on the Web, as well CEO of EmpoweringSites.com. He is also founder of MyCollegeSuccessStory.com and EnhanceMyVocabulary.com. Dr. Hansen is also a published author, with several books, chapters in books, and hundreds of articles. He’s often quoted in the media and conducts empowering workshops around the country. Finally, Dr. Hansen is also an educator, having taught at the college level for more than 15 years. Visit his personal Website or reach him by email at randall(at)quintcareers.com. Check out Dr. Hansen on GooglePlus.