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).
