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.

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