In a world in which we are daily forced to make decisions that lead us either closer to or further from our goals, no tool is as valuable in providing direction as a mission statement - a brief, succinct, and focused statement of purpose that can be used to initiate, evaluate, and refine all of life's activities. A carefully thought out mission statement acts as both a harness and a sword - harnessing you to what is true about your life, and cutting away all that is false.