I took a class on Entrepreneurial Leaders last Monday night. The instructor explained what a vision and mission is and asked each of us to write down ours. We each had the opportunity to share ours with the group and then she thanked us and was ready to move on. One classmate was very frustrated with the lack of feedback. She wanted to know how good her vision was. The instructor struggled to tactfully explain things in detail about designing a vision.

After listening with intense interest and observing the glazed eyes and confusing looks of many of my classmates, I asked if I could share a simple approach to clearly understanding these terms and how to design them. The classmates loved it!

I shared:

Vision: is what you see for your future. It’s usually 3-5 years out (YOUR EYES)

Mission: is what you do (YOUR HANDS)

Purpose: is why you do it (YOUR HEART)

See if this helps you design these strategic planning tools for your work and personal life. I’d love to hear from you about how you design and execute yours!