I was recently reading through Guy Kawasaki’s book The Art of the Start in which one of the best learnings for me was to kill mission statements in place of having a powerful Mantra. Most mission statements are long, boring and use empty words that don’t really translate a full meaning. Most of us have a mission statement because we think it is part of the magic bullet leading to success. I like mantra much better.
For me it is like being able to describe “what you do in a sentence or less.” If what you are doing hasn’t been focused and clarified enough to fall within a sentence to a few words, it is too general and you need to work on it.
As a way to expose the essential emptiness of words. With all this talk about participation and conversation, it is good to be mindful that sometimes actions speak louder than words. Although often declaring you are going to do something publicly can help keep you on track with actually doing it, the resolution and resilience you may need to pull through are built first in your mind.
