In past articles we have covered the mission statement. We have identified your purpose and reason for being - as a personal statement that helps lead you to the work you do on your chosen path.

We have also learned to describe your desired future-what you want to become. Once you have your personal mission statement defined, you can then determine your horizon.

What next?

"You now use the developed mission statement and vision statement to begin your strategic planning process to stay on track" writes Don Midgett, author of Mission and Vision Statements: Your Path to a Successful Business Future. These statements are your primary source and tools that will help you to develop meaningful goals, objectives, strategic activities and day to day actions for your strategic plan. How do you do this?

Break your mission and vision statements down and develop goals to respond to each phrase or sentence. Then take each goal and identify strategic activities that if accomplished, will achieve the goal. Also, take each strategic activity developed, for every goal, and break each down into the specific actions that must be performed. When you assign names and due dates to each of the specific actions, you have developed a comprehensive strategic plan that, when accomplished, should take you further down your path to a successful personal or business future.

Here's an abbreviated example, taking a small excerpt from the example company's mission and vision statements to show how a strategic plan element would look:

Company Mission (excerpt) = provide and distribute wellness products in North America

Company Vision (excerpt) = expand the business to become international distributors of wellness

Goal 1 = Expand beyond the North American marketplace

Objective 1 = Become a Certified International Distributor Before the End of the Quarter

Strategy 1A = Get certified to do business internationally

Action 1 = Sign up/pay for training class by the end of the week

Action 2 = Study/take International Certification Exam by the end of the month

Strategy 1B = Get new distributors in India

Action 1 = Contact current list of India prospects by the end of the month

Action 2 = Place ad in the Punjab Times by the end of the week

Action 3 = Educate qualified candidates within 2 weeks of contact

Action 4 = Sign up new distributors and train by the end of the quarter

Goal 2 = Train others to expand their distribution networks worldwide

Objective 2 = Develop 3 New Certified International Distributors Before the End of the Year

Strategy 2A = Etc…….

In the above example, note that the Goal is an overall statement that, when achieved, allows you to at least partially reach your vision and the Objective is a statement that allows you to measure your stated goal. The measure can be one of time, dollars or some other form of progression.

Notice that there are multiple strategies for each goal and objective. This is typically the case because there are frequently multiple Strategies that must be implemented to accomplish any goal. This is also true with the Actions necessary to accomplish each Strategy - multiple Actions are necessary to carry out each Strategy.

A comment from a hands-on trainer who uses mission and vision in his work: Doug Campbell, who trains fire fighters, says "I have many offers to consult in projects related to fire protection. I want to manage my time and project selection, and my mission statement and vision statement helps to do that." He also assigns his trainees to write out their mission and vision statements. "The mission and vision statements open a window on what their values are ….they expose the ethics of the person. We know by their replies which are ready for a supervisory position."

These are examples on how to focus the future of your strategic planning efforts in terms of visionary direction, leadership, goal-setting and proper strategic activity. To learn more about how to create and use a mission statement and vision statement to enhance your personal and business success, go to www.missionvisionstatement.com.