Life's Mission Statement: Why Should You Have One?

As a partner of a bespoke shoe start-up, I have always been fascinated by the fact that nearly all the potential investors and benefactors we talk to almost always ask about our mission statement before anything else. 

“Why is this so important to them?” I would ask myself. 

I found no readily convincing answers so I decided to find out as much as I could about why potential business partners prize that piece of information above all others. 

The Oxford Dictionary defines a mission statement as the official statement of the aims of a company or organization. A business mentor told me it is the map that prefigures the destination of every business entity. 

Being my usual self, I was slow to agree with my mentor because I thought businesses could forge admirable mission statements and not necessarily live by them. 

“In that case, failure will become inevitable” he assured me. 

Jack Welch, Chairman and CEO of General Electric from 1981 to 2001, emphasizes how having a mission statement brings clarity to a cause, increases the odds of success and attracts people to support it.

"Effective mission statements balance the possible and the impossible. They give people a clear sense of direction to profitability and the inspiration to feel they are a part of something big and important."

Many businesses hold this principle to be true and therefore spend many years thinking through a mission statement even before the business is born. Others who are already in business also constantly review their mission statements as a means of self-assessment. 

Now, if we go through such meticulous thought processes and strategies for our enterprises, how about the most important business of all? Life. How many of us have mission statements of our lives written down? Why do we even need one? 

Essentially, the mission statement of life defines the goal of that life and sets the limits for what must be done and what must be avoided. When we write a mission statement for our lives, we set a benchmark against which progress or regress can be measured. Once we have established that mission, life does not become a hit or miss experience but an ordered journey from where we are to where we want to go. 

For example, if my mission statement in school is to excel at the end of my course and move on from there into the world of work, then anything that distracts me from reaching that goal is unacceptable and ultimately detrimental to my mission. 

Similarly, if my mission statement as a young man is to become a responsible father and faithful husband, then anything that diverts me from fatherly responsibility and seduces me from marital fidelity must also be avoided at all cost.

On the contrary, if we do not plan to go somewhere in particular, we will end up anywhere in general. If we do not want life to become a cycle of trials and errors, we must take stock of our resources, strengths and weaknesses; we must pause long enough to think about and carve for ourselves each a personalized mission statement that is as unique as a thumbprint and as distinct as a signature. Don't copy anyone's mission. No one is youer than you.

Get a mission statement today or revise the one you have. It is only then that we can walk certainly into the uncertain future. 

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Cheers.