Writing a Mission and Vision Statement

Last year, I attended a seminar where the attendees were asked to define their personal mission or purpose in one sentence. Out of about a group of about three hundred people, fewer than a dozen were able to articulate a mission statement.

It's not that living with purpose is a low priority for most of us. Research by Richard J. Leider and David Shapiro, authors of Repacking Your Bags, found that the number one deadly fear of most people is "having lived a meaningless life."

Why, then, does writing a mission statement seem like such a daunting task?

I believe the main reason lies in the lack of practical resources. Though you can avail yourself of prolific advice about writing mission statements from management experts and from books, the Internet, and so forth-most of this information is complex and confusing. Also, most of these resources target corporations and organizations, providing little practical advice for an individual who wants to craft a personal mission statement.

When you were a child you probably learned how to start a fire by focusing sunlight through a magnifying glass. Sunlight alone could not start the fire; it had to be focused through the magnifying glass. This reflects a basic principle of solar energy-though a large amount of sunlight falls on the earth, the light is diffused. For the sun to be utilized for heating, solar energy units must be designed to collect and concentrate the light.

The same principle applies to purpose. It must be focused to produce results. With no focus, there is no mechanism for establishing direction or goals. As Diana Scharf Hunt said, "goals are dreams with deadlines."

Committing yourself to defining your purpose is the perhaps the most important task you could ever engage in. "Discovering your purpose will put your life into crystal-clear perspective," says Mark Victor Hansen in an Internet article "Conceptualize your Purpose." "You will see another world, one in which you are a necessary and intricate spoke in the wheel."

Your Personal Mission Statement

What is a mission statement? Since the focus of this article is on personal life purpose, as opposed to a corporate or organizational purpose, I'm going to simplify the process with the aim of making it easy for individuals who desire to articulate their purpose. Let's use the following definitions:

Mission Statement: Concise statement of your life purpose.Vision Statement: Concise statement of the unique and distinctive ways that you will accomplish your purpose.

The first place to start is your mission statement. I will use the terms "mission" and "purpose" interchangeably. Choose the term you like best.

Think of your mission statement as a general statement encompassing your reason for existence-in other words, a broad statement of what you hope to accomplish. It does not include the distinctive ways that you intend to accomplish your purpose; that will be articulated in your vision statement.

Your mission statement will help you stay on course. In First Things First, Stephen Covey emphasizes the motivation and energy that result from an effective mission statement. "What we're talking about here is not simply writing a statement of belief. We're talking about accessing and creating an open connection with the deep energy that comes from a well-defined, thoroughly integrated sense of purpose and meaning in life."

Before you develop your mission statement, it is important to understand what a mission statement is not. It is not a to-do list. Nor is it a statement of strategies or methods. It is not a job description. Jobs and roles change through life's different seasons; purpose embodies a broad vision that encompasses all your r