Last week I posted a blog which I hoped would inspire you, my reader, to engage the coming new year with full-on focus and purpose…to make 2016 the year you craft your very own Personal Mission Statement (PMS).

Today’s blog is the first step in drafting your PMS, and it is relatively simple. It may be something like treasure hunting for you. Just make sure you have pen and paper at hand and prepare yourself to wander into the misty wonder-land of your heart, soul and mind. Are you ready? Then get set…to think about people you know (past or present, living or dead) whom you admire.

It does not matter whether you are personally acquainted with these folks. They many be historical figures from the very distant past of whom you have read, or they may be modern day leaders within the domains of  business, politics, entertainment, or athletics. And do not forget to consider the individuals with whom you have closest contact…those within your family, social and work environments.

Regardless of how you know these people, only include on your pad of paper those whom you admire. Then, and this is most important, consider what qualities of these individual’s lives ping you. What caught your attention, your admiration. Examine their lives. Then, jot these qualities down on your paper. These are clues into what you value in your own heart, in your own life. List these qualities in detail.

Give yourself the time and luxury to thoughtfully consider the lives of these folks, their attributes, their ambitions, their abilities…all those things of theirs which you admire. Your writing these things down will serve as your PMS repository. Give yourself permission to take some careful, reflective energies as you engage this process, and enjoy this most important first step in crafting your PMS.