Your Mission is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG).
Unlike your Vision, you’ll actually achieve your Mission. It’s the mountain you’re climbing to reach toward your Vision; a 3-10 year objective that you are so passionate about you commit your life to it.
To align your Mission with your Purpose, make sure it requires you to activate your Strengths so powerfully your Gold shines through (This is the secret to activating your Purpose and realizing your full potential.)
The organizing power of a clear Mission makes large & small decisions feel effortless.
Think of it like grad school: An all-consuming 3-10 year project. You’ll budget for it. Schedule your life around it. Relocate for it, if necessary. Your daily routines will support you to achieve it. Your network and social connections will revolve around it. Everything in your life will naturally organize around a crystal clear Mission.
The difference between Purpose and Mission is that your Purpose is not a goal, it’s the reason you exist. It may be clarified by achieving your Mission, but it doesn’t really change. You’ll achieve many Missions in your life and it’s crucial that your Mission activates your Strengths because that’s how you’ll ultimately live your Purpose.
People who mistakenly conflate Purpose & Mission get to the top of their Mountain and hit an existential tail-spin. They go off the rails because once their Mission is achieved, they feel they have no reason to exist. But with a clear Purpose, accomplishing your Mission means you get to consolidate your learning about what lights you up and choose a new Mission that activates even more of your potential.
This is what we call Creative Momentum.
The true test of a Mission is that it is SMART: Specific, Messurable, Actionable, Realistic & Time Bound — to be achieved in the next 3-5 (no more than 10) years.
The way we arrive at your Mission is to consider:
What you are so passionately commited to achieve — in alignment with your Vision — that you lean into your strengths every day, thereby igniting your Purpose and realizing your full potential?
Simply put, it’s a long term goal you’re fully inspired to organize your life around.
My Purpose is: by with
My Vision is: A world where everyone
Iterate your Mission Statement until you get it over a 90.
- Chisel it down to 10 words or less.
- What do you love about it?
- What’s keeping it from being a 100?
- Keep iterating.
Ultimately, your Mission must be so clear that when it’s accomplished you can check it off a checklist.