From Steven Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Successful People/Families:

[blockquote_left] Habit #2: Begin with the end in mind.

Avoid emotional cancers from toxic society: complaining, criticizing, comparing, competing.

Mission statements should be timeless, addressing both ends and means.

Covey’s personal mission statement: Live, love, learn, and leave a legacy.

Families need to create their mission statement together, not have it handed down. [/blockquote_left]

Examples:

1. To teach ourselves to get a good education and become financially responsible, we will treat misbehavior and crises as learning opportunities.

2. To stick together always, we will be loyal to each other and the family, making sure those we bring into the family don’t divide it.

3. To show respect to older family members, all children will be taught to listen to, care for, and honor their elders in the family.

4. To teach each of us a sense of identity and self-worth, we will show acceptance of each other and encourage kind and honest communication.

5. So that each of us will make our own peace with God our creator, we will go to church, study the Bible, and pray together as a family.

6. To become ambassadors of peace in a strife-torn world, we will settle our differences politely, agreeing to disagree agreeably whenever we can’t compromise.

7. To learn to give and receive love, respect, and understanding in all our relationships, we will start by working to do this with each other.

8. To keep the children happy, older family members will give children what they want unless it’s obviously unsafe, bad for them, or too expensive. (Older family members for and through their children and grandchildren.)