Be clear and concise as to who you want to be and what you want to do.

Creating Your Personal Vision Statement

If you go all the way back to Day 5, I introduced the Success Game Plan (you can go back and review it here). The first step is:

1. Be clear and concise as to who you want to be and what you want to do.

Everyone should have a written personal vision statement. By writing it down and referring to it every day, we create a target and a reference point for all the decisions we make.

We started this as part of that day’s assignment. Today, we’re going to refine your answer.

A good personal vision statement can:

• help keep you focused and on track
• reinforce our core values and beliefs
• give us strength to push through when we’re tired or feeling lazy
• give us strength in times of trouble or uncertainty
• develop us a feeling of personal pride as we progress

There are two important parts to any personal vision statement:

1. Clarity of what you want to accomplish. This is a personal vision of your future self that guides you forward.
2. Clarity of who you want to be. You should have a clear set of personal values that highlight your ideal behaviour.

Entire books are written about how to create your personal vision statement. If you do a quick online search for “personal vision statement” or “personal vision statement examples“, you’ll find millions of results.

Luckily, there is a shortcut that we can use.

Where do you want to be five years from now?

One easy way to create a personal vision statement is to think about where you want to be 3-5 years from now. When you’re in high school, think about what university or college you’d like to attend. What program would you like to enroll in? Beyond that, what will your first job and career after school be like?

While five years may be a big time jump for most teenagers (or pre-teens), it is a perfect time frame for your personal vision statement.

Consider these examples from other players:

In five years…

• I would love to go to school anywhere that I can play the highest level of hockey. I would like to be accepted into a program where I could take courses to eventually become be a Child psychologist.
• I would like to attend a very good school where I can play high level hockey! I am hoping to focus on athletic training or kinesiology.
• I would like to attend a top business school anywhere across North America, while being a competitive athlete playing in a varsity college or university hockey program.
• I would like to become a varsity student hockey player at Guelph University in Ontario, and study to become a vet.
• I want to play varsity hockey at a top school in Ontario and get into a veterinary program or a program in the medical field.
• I would like to attend a great school that allows me to study something in the architecture field and hopefully play on a great variety hockey team!
• I would really like to go to Harvard and play hockey for the Crimson. Right now, my plan is to major in something like architecture and minor in business. I want to go to a school with a good academic reputation (like the Ivy League schools for example) because I really value my education. I don’t think that Canadian schools are out of the picture for me, but my dream would probably be to end up at Harvard.
• I would love to go to school anywhere that I can play the highest level of hockey. I would like to be accepted into a program where I could take courses to eventually become be a Child psychologist.
• My dream is to play hockey for Canada and win an Olympic gold. I’d like to be remembered for skill, good attitude towards everyone, and my ability to stop gender discrimination and racism.

Add Your Core Values

Your core values are the fundamental beliefs or guiding principles that guide your behaviour and help you make decisions.

Here are some core values that you may wish to consider adding to your personal vision statement. Which of these are most important to you?

• Commitment
• Compassion
• Courage
• Creativity
• Dependability
• Good humor
• Honesty
• Loyalty
• Optimism
• Passion
• Perseverance
• Positivity
• Reliability
• Respect
• Service to others
• Spirit of adventure

A good personal vision statement allows you to live your life with intention. We’ll talk more about how to do that later.

Coach Steve’s Personal Vision Statement

Today’s Assignment:

1. Write your personal mission statement down on a single sheet of paper. Start with the answer you provided in the assignment from earlier in the training camp. You can go back through the message history in WhatsApp to see your answer (and your teammates’ answers). Refine it after looking at some of your teammates responses.
2. Add your core values. Is your statement clear and concise (just one or two sentences)? Remember, you can always change your personal mission statement. 
3. Post it somewhere you’ll see it every day (maybe on a bulletin board or mirror in your room). Once you’ve got it somewhere you’ll see it, take a PHOTO of it and post the photo to the team WhatsApp group.
4. Add a version of your personal mission statement to your Athlete Profile on Google Drive. You may want to modify it so that it isn’t too personal and makes sense for coaches and recruiters.
5. Complete today’s workout on the TeamBuildr app. Be sure to mark each exercise complete as you finish it. Depending on your schedule (other sports, work, etc.) it is okay to complete the exercises on another day or even substitute an alternate workout provided that the difficultly level is similar. Please make note of any substitutions or switches as part of the daily check in item in the TeamBuildr app.