Mission Statement: the eight-step craft

Vocabulary · 12

Personal mission statement

A written declaration of life direction. Covey: "the personal, moral and ethical guidelines within which you can most happily express and fulfill yourself." It is not a goal list; goals serve the mission. The function is to give the man a standing answer to "what am I here to do?" so that the daily choices have something to bend toward.

Examine the lives of others

Step 1 of the eight-step method. List one or two people in history or in your life whom you admire. Name the specific qualities you would like to emulate, in character, in conduct, or in the way they live. The point isn't worship; the point is identification of the traits you want to grow into.

Determine your ideal self

Step 2 of the eight-step method. Define the type of person you want to become, not just what you want to have or achieve. Use the prompt "as an ideal [spouse / friend / parent / brother / officer], I want to . . ." and fill in as many endings as you can. This is identity-based commitment in action: the work is to write the man you want to be.

Consider your legacy

Step 3 of the eight-step method. List the roles you live in (career, family, community, Craft, neighborhood) and write a short sentence on how you'd like to be remembered in each. Imagine the words you'd want spoken at your retirement, at your fiftieth wedding anniversary, at your installation, at your funeral. Specificity matters more than eloquence.

Determine a purpose (four elements)

Step 4 of the eight-step method. Write a one-line purpose for each of the four fundamental elements of a man: physical (the body), mental (the mind), emotional (the heart), spiritual (the soul). The four-element model is Covey's; the practice forces honest scope across what the Craft calls the whole man, not just one part.

Clarify your aptitudes

Step 5 of the eight-step method. List your talents, skills, and aptitudes, then circle the ones you actually enjoy. The mission you write should reflect the strengths you both have and like using. Psychology of flow (Csikszentmihalyi) and the work on signature strengths (Peterson & Seligman) both find that engagement is highest where ability and enjoyment intersect.

Define specific goals

Step 6 of the eight-step method. Translate the work above into specific goals across the areas of your life. The published advice is to use SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound); the chapter on Goals expands this. Step 6 is the bridge between the mission you're writing and the operational arc that follows it (Roles, Goals, Tasks).

Craft the statement

Step 7 of the eight-step method. Write the mission. A few sentences to a couple of paragraphs. It can flow as prose or sit as bullet points; the form is less important than the act of writing. Keep the language positive (what you want, not what you don't) and affirmative (declarative present tense, not future hopeful).

Refine it

Step 8 of the eight-step method. The statement is not done in one sitting. Sit with the draft for days or weeks, return to it, and revise. Most men go through several iterations before the statement feels both true and worth defending. Review the final form daily so it motivates the choices that follow.

Meaning question (Frankl)

Viktor Frankl's contribution from Man's Search for Meaning (1946): a man with a why can bear almost any how. Frankl, the founder of logotherapy, observed in four concentration camps that the prisoners who survived longest were those who held onto a reason to live (a person, a piece of unfinished work, a faith). The personal mission statement is the modern, low-stakes form of Frankl's question.

Law of Legacy (Maxwell)

Maxwell's twenty-first and last Irrefutable Law: "A leader's lasting value is measured by succession." The law lands on the mission statement directly: the document you draft in step 7 isn't for next quarter; it's the standing answer to "what would I want said about me after I'm gone?" Maxwell's published note: the accomplishments of a leader are ephemeral; what lives on are the people. Step 3 of the eight-step method (consider your legacy) is the same question in disguise.

Servant leadership (Greenleaf)

Robert K. Greenleaf's published frame from his 1970 essay "The Servant as Leader" and the 1977 book Servant Leadership: a true leader begins as a servant first, asking what those he leads need to grow, and then leads by attending to it. The mission statement of a servant leader doesn't read "my accomplishments"; it reads "who I'm trying to serve and how." Greenleaf's framing pairs naturally with Frankl's meaning question and with the Masonic charge to relieve the distressed brother.

Sequences · 2

Practice questions · 10

1. How does Covey define a personal mission statement?

   • a. A short list of annual goals
   • b. A written description of your day-to-day routine
   • c. The personal, moral, and ethical guidelines within which you can most happily express and fulfill yourself ✓
   • d. A summary of your job description

2. What is step 1 of the eight-step method?

   • a. Pick a personal motto
   • b. Examine the lives of others: list people you admire and the specific qualities you'd like to emulate ✓
   • c. Write down your weaknesses
   • d. Ask a friend what they think your mission is

3. Step 2 asks you to "determine your ideal self." What's the prompt the method recommends?

   • a. Imagine your best possible career
   • b. Use "as an ideal [spouse / friend / parent / brother / officer], I want to . . ." and fill in the ending ✓
   • c. Describe yourself in five years
   • d. List your weaknesses to overcome

4. What are the four fundamental elements that step 4 asks you to write a purpose for?

   • a. Work, family, health, money
   • b. Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual ✓
   • c. Past, present, future, legacy
   • d. Mind, body, soul, fellowship

5. What does step 5 (clarify your aptitudes) ask you to circle once the list is written?

   • a. The skills you make the most money from
   • b. The skills you enjoy and find fulfilling ✓
   • c. The skills others tell you you're best at
   • d. The skills you've used most recently

6. What's Frankl's published "meaning question," and where does the answer matter?

   • a. "What is the meaning of life?" — a philosophical exercise
   • b. "What is my favorite memory?" — for nostalgia
   • c. "What is my why?" — a man with a why can bear almost any how, observed across his time in four concentration camps ✓
   • d. "What am I afraid of?" — to overcome fear

7. How long does the published method expect step 8 (refine it) to take?

   • a. One sitting; the first draft is the final form
   • b. Roughly an afternoon
   • c. Days or weeks of sitting with it and revising; some men iterate over months ✓
   • d. Once a year, on your birthday

8. Why does step 7 (craft the statement) emphasize positive and affirmative language?

   • a. Because negative language is grammatically incorrect
   • b. Because the statement is what you'll review daily; focusing on what you want, declared in the present, gives the brain something to aim at rather than something to avoid ✓
   • c. Because affirmations are magic
   • d. Because the method requires it for legal reasons

9. How does Maxwell's Law of Legacy tie to the mission statement work?

   • a. Legacy is something you worry about only late in life
   • b. "A leader's lasting value is measured by succession." The mission you write is the standing answer to what you'd want said about you after you're gone; step 3 (consider your legacy) is the same question in disguise ✓
   • c. Legacy and mission are unrelated
   • d. The mission should focus only on current goals

10. What's the central claim of Greenleaf's servant leadership, and how does it shape a mission statement?

    • a. Leaders should be subservient to everyone
    • b. A true leader begins as a servant first; the mission of a servant leader reads as "who I'm trying to serve and how," not as "my accomplishments" ✓
    • c. Servants can't be leaders
    • d. Greenleaf was opposed to mission statements