MISSON STATEMENTS

"A PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT IS A POWERFUL TOOL BECAUSE IT PROVIDES YOU WITH A PATH FOR SUCCESS, AND IT GIVES YOU PERMISSION TO SAY NO TO THE THINGS THAT ARE DISTRACTIONS  IT ALSO CHANGES OVER TIME"

Companies have started to create mission statements to define who they are and what they stand for. Also inside companies CEO's are also developing mission statements because it allows them to keep focused and have a purpose. However, not only CEO's and people within companies have started this move but also individuals. It allows them to map out in a short sentence their 
"path to success".  
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Today as we were reflecting upon our first year in the Innovation Academy we decided that it was time to redefine our purpose, and this is how we came across with the mission statement. The purpose that was stated in our website didn't truly define us. Now, were were ready and experienced to give a mission statement to the IA.  
We have been in this journey for a year, we understood what it meant to have a culture of excellence, we were finding our passion for learning and we had enjoyed creating real-world projects. So, we begun to brainstorm.  With the answers we got from the class we begun to synthesize down to the most important answers of each question.  

We came up with four important things that had to be included in the IA mission statement. 
1. Culture of excellence
2. Create passion for learning
3. Life- long leaders
4. Adapt the way we teach and learn to improve the way we live

With the following in mind we all created, individually, a mission statement for the IA. These were powerful, even standing alone they could already be single mission statements. It was so hard to put something together because there were so many words I wanted to add, which made it longer, and I know it had to remain short.  Finally I tried my best to bring it all together in a short way, we all did, and I wrote it on a google docs were the rest of the statements were placed.

We read each one as a class and we highlighted the cool parts of each statement that was created. We all came up with very similar ideas, because we had all felt what was like to be in the Innovation Academy and after talking and following a culture of excellence we knew what we believed on. Moreover, using all the highlighted parts as a class we blended and changed somethings and we finally created our mission statement for the IA. 

TO EXEMPLIFY A CULTURE OF EXCELLENCE, CREATE PASSION FOR LEARNING, AND ADAPT THE WAY WE LEARN TO IMPROVE THE WAY WE LIVE. 

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Once we created our IA mission statement/ purpose we decided it was a great idea to make one for ourselves. It would define, why we exist, what we believe and what we want to achieve. Believe me it was hard. We followed the same steps, first answering the questions and then synthesizing it down to a PERSONAL MISSON STATEMENT.  I was blocked for a moment, it seemed like a simple task, but it wasn't. With 17 years of life you may think that I already knew why I existed in this world; however, let me tell you that I still have no idea. Unlike my dear friend Pedro who already knew he wanted to revolutionize the technology world I was still searching my way. However, this wasn't a problem because mission statements may change over time. Thoughts, ideas and goals change so mission statements change as well. 

“IF YOUR MISSION STATEMENT DOESN'T CHANGE, YOU RISK NOT BEING RELEVANT ANY MORE"

So far, this is the mission statement I've created for myself. However, I know that as time goes by it will go under some changes. 

"TO EMBRACE THE CHALLENGES THAT LIFE POSES ME WITH, TO TAKE RISKS, FAIL AND HELP THOSE AROUND ME  "
-DREW