Photo via The U.S. National Archives
Author Archives: Nate
Do you know what you’re doing?
via State Library and Archives of Florida (flickr.com/photos/floridamemory/3983331817)
I believe in the power of a good mission statement to help a person or group to focus on what’s really important to them. But we all know most mission statements are completely worthless. Nancy Lublin of Fast Company wrote about this a couple years ago in an article called, ‘How to Write a Mission Statement That Isn’t Dumb.’
Sometimes defining your mission can wreck your whole view of how you currently live your life and force you to rebuild your decision-making process from scratch. Like a good massage, it hurts while it’s happening but you’ll feel great when it’s over. I highly recommend checking out the article and taking Ms. Lublin’s advice.
But we have to tackle vision statements, too. Most of those are also dumb. And the right vision statement can be just as explosive as the right mission statement, maybe even more so. Writing a vision statement involves imagining the future you want and putting it into words. And Ari Weinzweig will you tell you exactly how to do that in his article, ’8 Steps to Creating a Great Vision.’
Here’s what I came away with for OCSPLORA’s mission after reading those articles.
There are three main things I am attempting with OCSPLORA: one, to tell fantastic stories (99 new stories each year, at least one gaining international recognition each month); two, to connect creative revolutionaries with people and ideas that resonate (99 positive responses each week from our audience); and three, to point out opportunities for adventure, creativity and generosity (99 messages each quarter from people who took action based on opportunities we reported).
What do you think? Let me know your thoughts on those two articles, mission and vision statements in general, your mission and vision for life or OCSPLORA’s mission (and help us meet the goal for part two).
Gun barrels into ploughshares
'Harvest Nation Sculpture Project' on Terra Furna Public Art
The guys over at Terra Furna Public Art posted on their site back in May of last year about a very cool sculpture project they were working on.
The concept comes from the ancient text “They shall forge their swords into ploughshares”. Our thought is that Canada has been a nation of peacekeepers for decades, and our influence has had a significant part in many nations’ histories. From Korea to Bosnia to the more recent Afghanistan, our soldiers can be found doing their best to encourage the world to put down their arms.
Our idea was to get our hands on a Howitzer gun barrel, or tank barrel, and forge that into a plough as a modern interpretation of the text. Our idea has developed into a larger, more ambitious idea with the inclusion of other elements that reinforce the message of peacekeeping.
The Harvest Nation Sculpture Project on terrafurna.com. Lots more photos.
Welcome to March…
via State Library of Queensland, Australia
… where the theme is Exotic Foods here on OCSPLORA.com.
Coloured illustrations of meat and poultry piled onto elaborate silver serving stands, 1901
February photo number four
Shot at a playground in New York City by Eric Corpus.
February photo number three
Shot by Mark Hill outside a church in western Massachusetts. ‘Which is the life part and which is the edge? Depends on your perspective. Are they both fighting for their lives? Or living on the edge of each other in harmony?’