Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

term goals will provide the foundation for effective goal setting and achieving
when we get to the Habit 3 day-to-day management of life and time.
Family Mission Statements
Because Habit 2 is based on principle, it has broad application. In addition to
individuals, families, service groups, and organizations of all kinds become
significantly more effective as they Begin with the End in Mind.
Many families are managed on the basis of crises, moods, quick fixes, and
instant gratification -- not on sound principles. Symptoms surface whenever
stress and pressure mount: people become cynical, critical, or silent or they start
yelling and overreacting. Children who observe these kinds of behavior grow up
thinking the only way to solve problems is flight or fight.
The core of any family is what is changeless, what is always going to be
there -- shared vision and values. By writing a family mission statement, you
give expression to its true foundation.
This mission statement becomes its constitution, the standard, the criterion
for evaluation and decision making. It gives continuity and unity to the family as
well as direction. When individual values are harmonized with those of the
family, members work together for common purposes that are deeply felt.
Again, the process is as important as the product. The very process of writing
and refining a mission statement becomes a key way to improve the family.
Working together to create a mission statement builds the PC capacity to live it.
By getting input from every family member, drafting a statement, getting
feedback, revising it, and using wording from different family members, you get
the family talking, communicating, on things that really matter deeply. The best
mission statements are the result of family members coming together in a spirit
of mutual respect, expressing their different views, and working together to
create something greater than any one individual could do alone. Periodic review
to expand perspective, shift emphasis or direction, amend or give new meaning
to time-worn phrases can keep the family united in common values and
purposes.
The mission statement becomes the framework for thinking, for governing
the family. When the problems and crises come, the constitution is there to
remind family members of the things that matter most and to provide direction
for problem solving and decision making based on correct principles.
In our home, we put our mission statement up on a wall in the family room
so that we can look at it and monitor ourselves daily. When we read the phrases
about the sounds of love in our home, order, responsible independence,
cooperation, helpfulness, meeting needs, developing talents, showing interest in
each other's talents, and giving service to others it gives us some criteria to know