Today’s reality has forced us to question how we lead ourselves and our families:

• Do we need that next purchase or would we feel better with the security of a savings account?
• Should we be constantly going somewhere or are our best times in the backyard?
• Are we eating healthier by eating at home more often?
• Could our children benefit by playing with other children rather than attending another activity?
• Would there be less stress if we drove less?

What positive outcomes have you experienced? 

We  may have been forced to change the way we live but, by shifting our paradigm, we can focus on the positive outcomes. We can determine what is important and meaningful and lead in that direction. Leaders make changes, and by doing so, influence the people around them to also make changes. A leader is not necessarily a CEO of a corporation. A leader is anyone who leads by example. Just look at the “green” movement-many individual leaders making small steps that are leading to change.

Imagine if we taught our children to become leaders. What if we taught children to stop and think about choices, understand and value differences, have balance in their lives, and work together for better ideas?

We feel that their leadership skills would help them become responsible citizens and influence other children! It wouldn’t take long before we would start to see a change. What do you think?

 Leadership is not a new concept. Teaching children to be leaders is. Imagine the possibilities.

 Click Here to learn more about The Leader In Me Process.

 Authors: Sarah Noble and Judy Yauch, FranklinCovey Education Solutions

I felt like I really needed to freshen up my mission statement before I could teach and advise others to write theirs. It was several years ago when I first attended a 7 Habits workshop (and trust me, it was several years ago). It was at Sundance in the summer and a beautiful place to enjoy nature and discover my passion through writing my first personal mission statement. Since that time, I’ve had another child, put two daughters through college, celebrated many more wedding anniversaries, and advanced my career to my dream job. A lot has happened since that first mission statement was written and my paradigm on life has matured.

So, in a hurry I thought I’d try out the Mission Statement Builder tool on the FranklinCovey website. I thought I’ll get this done in a hurry, it can’t be that difficult, I’ll do it while I’m listening in to this conference call-you know how we multi-task while the phone’s on mute, admit it you do it too. 

But surprisingly I really got into the process. The tool is easy to use, asks the right questions in the right order, and pulls it together in a final format. When you’re done you say “Wow! That was cool and look at what I can do!”

I thoroughly enjoyed going through the process again. I loved getting in touch with my voice, my passion, and recognizing some of my achievements thus far in life.

Next step is to decide which of the products I want to put my mission statement on-do I want a poster? What picture should I put on it? I’m not really good at journaling so maybe my mission statement on a journal would encourage me to do more. Decisions, decisions.

But now I’m ready to go out and inspire others and I’ll definitely encourage these teens to go home and do their own mission statement builder after camp.

I’ll keep you posted on which product I choose-I’ll blog about it when I get back (if I survive!).

You can build your mission statement or revamp your current mission statement at: www.franklincovey.com/msb

Author:  Annie Oswald