Simon Sinek’s book, Start with Why, has sold over 1 million copies.

Good to Great by Jim Collins sold over 4 million.

And they’re not done. More and more people will continue to purchase these books. Actually, we know that more books about mission statements will continue to get written.

If the main topic isn’t about mission statements, most leadership and business books include the importance of defining your mission statement for yourself, your family and your company.

The world is not void of mission statements.

What do you think of when you hear mission statement? Do you feel a hollow feeling in your stomach? Do you get excited about “living on mission?” Or, do you roll your eyes at the exercise of “Today we’re going to create a missions statement.”

I did—I rolled my eyes. 

I knew that our team, our department, our company needed a mission statement, but to be honest, I always thought they were “airy fairy” ideas that helped give a false sense of motivation. We needed a mission, but we also need to get work done.

Then something changed, everything changed for me about mission statements. The mission statement became something that gave direction, focus, and, yes, motivation for doing the next thing for our company, for our family, for my personal goals.

Here’s what changed.

We do X by Y, because of Z.

Before you think we’re entering back into 8th grade algebra, let me break down the formula that keeps the mission statement practical for today, motivational for tomorrow, and a reminder of where we’ve come. When done right, mission statements can do all of those things and more. They can mean something in your marketing strategy, give direction to your sales team, unite product and engineering teams, and invite your customers into something greater than a purchase—a story.

We do X

This is the part of the mission statement that I never did on my own. Before learning this, my mission statements were all about the Why, never about the Do. Your mission statement needs to include the Do. This isn’t the do for your customers, it’s the do for your business, for your company, and your team to get the work done that will drive the economic growth of the overall company. That’s right, you need to put in 3 goals for economic growth. If you don’t, your well-intentioned team will do work that they think is important, but won’t actually help the bottom line of the company. Including 3 tied to the bottom line in a mission statement seems counter-intuitive. Why? Because mission statements aren’t about the money.

Let’s flip that, if you don’t make money, you won’t be able to achieve your mission. Without money, you have no mission. Money fuels the plane of your business to get you to your mission.

Yes, that means, even if you’re a non-profit you need to tie your mission to your economic goals. Why three? Because we overcomplicate most things in our life. Keeping it to three gives a laser focus to the company, and is way easier to remember. When it’s easier to remember people remember it. When people remember it, they work towards it. When you work towards your economic priorities, you always get closer to achieving them, and, I believe, you do actually achieve.

By Y

Deadlines matter. If you don’t put a deadline on your mission, then it’s just a dream. Goals are dreams with deadlines. Deadlines give you accountability, and they motivate you to achieve your goal. Daniel Pink discovered this and shared this in his book Drive. He shares that we are always more motivated by our goals halfway towards our deadline. There’s something about realizing that half the time is gone that gets us into high gear.

Goals are dreams with deadlines.

I was way more motivated to write my papers for college the night before rather than weeks prior. I wasn’t a procrastinator, I just wasn’t motivated. 

Sometimes we hit our deadlines with success, but sometimes we don’t. Either way, the deadline gives us the moment to check in on the progress. Did we hit our goal? Why? Why not? Your deadline isn’t held accountable to anyone but yourself and your team. Deadlines are the great revealers of hidden agenda and lack of focus. Make the deadline realistic of course, consider pushing it out to 1 year or at most 2 years. Why so short? Because otherwise your brain won’t recognize it as something that you need to do today. We actually don’t see ourselves in 2 years, we view ourselves as a completely different person. When it’s someone else achieving the goal (even if it is our future self) we can lose motivation for today. Keep it far enough away that it’s realistic and doable, but not too far away that you can’t see it anymore.

I never realized deadlines with mission statements matter. I put a lot of pressure on my previous mission statement to make sure it was big enough to lead and motivate people for generations. Perfectionism took over at this point and I ended up with a mission statement that had a lot of great words but didn’t actually mean anything. It also means that you can update your mission statement at the time of your deadline. It keeps it fresh for your employees to work on upcoming goals. I worked for a company that had a mission of achieving 20 million devices under management by 2020. We knew what we were striving for and we knew by when. Every project we asked, does this help us get to 20 million devices? When 2020 came around, we hit our goal. We accomplished our mission. Then we set a new goal with a new deadline and we were off to the races.

Because of Z

You already know this part if you’ve read anything about mission statements in the past. This is the “airy fairy” stuff that we all need to remind us that our life is more than the goals we set. It helps us build a growth mindset rather than confined to the goal mindset. You can put the “because of z” on your website and motivate your investors, customers, and employees with the reason why the company is selling the products that they are selling. “Because every family deserves to have a home.” “Because your morning coffee shouldn’t have to taste like tar.” You know the why. Most of us can put that together really quickly. For me this was the easier part of my mission. Here’s where we use Start with Why or Good to Great to help us remember that great companies always set the direction of where they are going.

This is the “airy fairy” stuff that we all need to remind us that our life is more than the goals we set.

If you don’t set the direction of where you’re going, you’ll end up somewhere else.

Like the coordinates of a plane, the mission statement sets the destination for your business. If you don’t set the coordinates, the plane won’t get to your destination. And neither will your business. It needs to be repeated to your team, reminding them what you’re all after by when because of your why. 

I was talking to a business owner the other day and he said that whatever system you put in place you need to make sure you stick with it and monitor it until it becomes the culture. Even then, you keep monitoring your system to consistency. Not to memorialize your mission statement but to take steps towards it every single day.

Your mission matters. You got into business, started a family, supported your body for a reason. Use the above framework for whatever you’re working on—volunteer committee, family mission statement, business, department, soccer team.

Want some help putting it together? Reach out and we can set up a quick consultation and help you navigate through not only building your mission, but transforming your life to living it.

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Photo by Tabea Schimpf on Unsplash

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