Purpose, mission, principles, vision, strategy, plan. The world is full of fuzzy words, overused to the extent of losing their original meaning. However, regardless of how they are used today, my approach is not to dismiss these words but to rescue them by respecting their meaning, using them intentionally, and -maybe- writing about them. Why? I believe there is value in words and what they represent for individuals, projects and organisations. With an accurate and intentional use of these concepts, we can succeed and achieve our goals, and likewise, we can take the wrong path by ignoring or manipulating them. With this article, I want to cut the clutter, bring clarity to these concepts and organise them all together for a better understanding and -to be honest- for my own sanity too. Let’s build a rocket!

目的，任务，原则，远景，战略，计划。 这个世界充满了模糊的单词，过度使用到失去其本义的程度。 但是，不管今天如何使用它们，我的方法不是放弃这些单词，而是通过尊重它们的含义，有意使用它们以及(也许)写出它们来挽救它们。 为什么？ 我相信语言对个人，项目和组织都有价值，它们代表了什么。 通过准确，有目的地地使用这些概念，我们可以成功实现目标，同样，我们可以通过忽略或操纵它们而走错路。 在这篇文章中，我想消除混乱，使这些概念清晰明了，并将它们组织在一起，以更好地理解并且(老实说)我自己的理智。 让我们制造一枚火箭！

目的 (Purpose)

“Just as people cannot live without eating, so a business cannot live without profits. But most people don’t live to eat, and neither must businesses live just to make profits.” — John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods

就像人们不能不吃东西就不能生存一样，企业不能没有利润就不能生存。 但是大多数人都不靠吃饭为生，企业也不能为了赚钱而生活。” — Whole Foods首席执行官John Mackey

Our need for a purpose is as old as our history as a species. We all somehow know this, A purpose is an immutable answer to one of the most basic and still more important questions we can ask: Why? And it is precisely its unfeasible nature, what drives change to happen and makes innovation to thrive. It is the fuel that inspires us to do more and better. But a purpose is not only critical for us as individuals but also for projects and tasks we plan to execute.

我们对某个目的的需求与我们作为一个物种的历史一样古老。 我们都以某种方式知道这一点， 目的是对我们可以问到的最基本也是最重要的问题之一的不变答案：为什么？ 正是正是它的不可行本质，才推动了变革的发生并促使创新蓬勃发展。 是激励我们做更多更好的燃料。 但目标不仅对于我们个人而言至关重要，而且对于我们计划执行的项目和任务也至关重要。

My favourite definition of purpose was given by David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard in 1960:

我最喜欢的目的定义是惠普(HP)联合创始人大卫·帕卡德(David Packard)在1960年给出的：

“Purpose (which should last at least 100 years) should not be confused with specific goals or business strategies (which should change many times in 100 years). Whereas you might achieve a goal or complete a strategy, you cannot fulfil a purpose; it’s like a guiding star on the horizon — forever pursued but never reached. Yet although purpose itself does not change, it does inspire change. The very fact that purpose can never be fully realised means that an organisation can never stop stimulating change and progress.”

“目标(应至少持续100年)不应与特定目标或业务策略(在100年内应多次更改)相混淆。 尽管您可能实现目标或完成策略，但您无法实现目标。 它就像地平线上的引导星-永远追求，却从未实现。 尽管目的本身并没有改变，但确实可以激发改变。 目标永远无法完全实现这一事实意味着组织永远不会停止刺激变革和进步。”

As simple as this is, for many reasons we tend to forget our purpose, ending up with repetitive tasks and with a poor idea of why we are doing what we do. When this happens, it is only the inertia that keeps us moving, giving us a false sense of progress, and therefore impacting us negatively. Once we identify the problem, a journey back to rediscover our purpose is needed. For a person, it could be a gap year, a trip back to their origins or a drastic change in their habits and lifestyle. For projects and companies, it requires a detailed and honest analysis of their values, their history and current state in order to build up or redefine a purpose.

就这么简单，由于多种原因，我们倾向于忘记自己的目标，最终导致重复的任务以及对我们为什么要做自己的事情的想法很模糊。 当这种情况发生时，只有惯性才能使我们前进，给我们一种错误的进步感，从而给我们带来负面影响。 一旦发现问题，就需要重新发现我们的目的的旅程。 对于一个人来说，这可能是一段空白的一年，或者是回溯到他们的起源，或者是他们的习惯和生活方式发生了巨大的变化。 对于项目和公司，它需要对其价值，历史和当前状态进行详细而诚实的分析，以建立或重新定义目标。

任务 (Mission)

A mission is a statement of who we are, but not by defining our personality, or how we behave, but by focusing on what we do and what concrete outcomes we want to achieve to fulfil our purpose and achieve our vision.

一个使命是我们是谁的声明，而不是通过定义我们的个性，或者我们的行为，而是着眼于我们做什么，有什么具体的成果，我们要实现实现我们的目的，并实现我们的愿景。

A clear mission will sweep away any existentialist stain and give us the focus we need by defining who we are and what we do. This should naturally follow after our purpose statement is defined.

一个明确的任务将清除一切存在主义者的污点，并通过定义我们是谁和做什么来给予我们我们需要的关注。 在定义了我们的目标声明之后，这自然应该遵循。

For example, let’s say we are a space exploration company whose purpose is “to expand the frontiers of human knowledge”. Following this statement, we can define our mission as “We want to put a man on Mars by the end of the decade”. While the first can inspire any reasonable person, the second (still inspiring) provides us with a focus on a concrete outcome, driven by our purpose.

例如，假设我们是一家太空探索公司，其目的是“扩大人类知识的疆界”。 声明之后，我们可以将我们的任务定义为“我们希望在本世纪末将一个人送上火星”。 虽然第一个可以激发任何理性的人，但是第二个(仍然鼓舞人心的)使我们着重于具体目标的实现，这是由我们的目标驱动的。

It is important to mention we can have more than one mission statement, according to the size, resources and scope of our project or company. This is not only reasonable, but healthy. Multiple missions help us diversify and bring focus to different tasks that will come up from our strategy and plan.

值得一提的是，根据项目或公司的规模，资源和范围，我们可以有多个任务说明。 这不仅合理，而且很健康。 多项任务可以帮助我们实现多元化，并将重点放在战略和计划所要完成的不同任务上。

价值观与原则 (Values and Principles)

I like to place these two together, even though they are different. This is because I believe they serve us better as a single entity.

我喜欢将两者放在一起，即使它们不同。 这是因为我相信它们作为一个整体可以更好地为我们提供服务。

Your values define what is important to you. In a sense, they are very similar to your purpose but referring to your personality and behaviour rather than to a ‘greater’ cause or idea. Your principles, on the other hand, give you specific directions to comply with your values.

您的价值观定义了对您而言重要的事情。 从某种意义上说，它们与您的目标非常相似，但指的是您的个性和行为，而不是“更大”的原因或想法。 另一方面，您的原则为您提供了遵循价值观的具体指导。

战略 (Strategy)

A strategy is a high-level bucket where we include the best steps and actions to get desirable results. Think of it as a framework for making decisions that work as a glue which puts together and gives meaning and intention to every step we must take to achieve something. We arrive at a strategy by running a careful analysis that includes multiple factors like our strengths, weakness, opportunities and potential threats, together with our skills and resources. All of these combined to create a competitive advantage.

战略是一个高层次的工具，其中我们包括最佳步骤和行动，以取得理想的结果。 可以将其视为制定决策的框架，这些决策就像胶水一样，为实现目标所必须采取的每一个步骤都凝聚在一起，并赋予其意义和意图。 我们通过仔细分析得出一个战略，其中包括我们的优势，劣势，机会和潜在威胁等多个因素，以及我们的技能和资源。 所有这些结合起来创造了竞争优势。

As presented by author and speaker Roger L. Martin in his article “Don’t Let Strategy Become Planning”

正如作者和演讲者罗杰·马丁(Roger L. Martin)在他的文章“不要让战略成为计划”中介绍的那样

“(A strategy)… is one integrated set of choices: what is our winning aspiration; where will we play; how will we win; what capabilities need to be in place; and what management systems must be instituted.”

“(一项策略)…是一组综合选择：我们的制胜目标是什么？ 我们将在哪里玩； 我们将如何获胜； 需要具备哪些能力； 以及必须建立哪些管理系统。”

计划 (Plan)

Once you have your strategy, when you zoom in, what you see is your plan. A plan is a detailed set of steps that articulates concrete actions about how your strategy will be executed. A plan, if followed properly, will take you to your desired destination.

一旦有了自己的策略，放大之后，您所看到的就是您的计划。 计划是一组详细的步骤，阐明了有关如何执行策略的具体操作。 一个计划，如果正确执行，将带您到所需的目的地。

What I love about plans is how clear and simple they are by nature. Even the bad ones, lacking a strategy, mission or purpose behind, will still present a structure of its own that is hard to miss. A plan can’t lie, by succeeding or failing it will give you the straight answers you need, whether you like it or not.

我喜欢计划的本质是计划的清晰和简单。 即使是不好的人，也缺乏战略，任务或目的，仍然会呈现出自己不容错过的结构。 一个计划是不会说谎的，无论成功与否，它都会为您提供所需的直接答案，无论您是否愿意。

The moment when a plan is executed and starts giving us the first results, it will put on the table the strengths and weakness of the organisation and will tell us if previous steps are missing or were covered properly.

一旦执行计划并开始为我们提供第一个结果，它就会把组织的优势和劣势摆在桌面上，并告诉我们先前的步骤是否丢失或被正确覆盖。

+愿景 (+ Vision)

Our rocket is ready, but it needs to go somewhere. A vision is a destination, a statement of where you are going and where you want to be.

我们的火箭已经准备好了，但是它需要去某个地方。 愿景是目的地，是您要去往和想要去的地方的声明。

But how is a vision created? Where does it come from? I wrote about this in detail some time ago in ‘The Making of a Vision”. I invite you to give it a read if you want to dig deeper on this since I want to keep this post as simple and as short as possible. As copied from my previously mentioned article:

但是，如何创建愿景？ 它从何而来？ 不久前，我在《愿景的形成》中详细介绍了这一点。 如果您想对此进行更深入的研究，我邀请您阅读它，因为我想使这篇文章尽可能简单和简短。 从我之前提到的文章中复制而来：

“Despite the romantic idea that a vision is brought to us, mortals, by some sort of divine inspiration, when talking business or about offering a product or service with enough value for a market out there, a vision needs to be something more curated and defined, with a basic structure that provides us with the fertile soil where plans can be born to achieve the goals that fulfilled that vision.”

“尽管有一个浪漫的想法，那就是凡人通过某种神圣的灵感而带给我们凡人，当进行业务洽谈或为市场提供具有足够价值的产品或服务时，我们需要对愿景进行更多策划，定义的基本结构为我们提供了肥沃的土壤，在那里可以诞生计划以实现实现该愿景的目标。”

我们的火箭建成了 (Our Rocket is Built)

There are many things we can apply in life as well as in business. The concepts presented here are some of the most common steps we take when working on a new project or when making regular choices. Regardless of the size and complexity of the task, it is important to have clarity on the steps we need to take from defining our purpose to executing a plan.

我们可以在生活和商业中应用很多东西。 这里介绍的概念是我们在进行新项目或进行常规选择时采取的一些最常见步骤。 无论任务的规模和复杂性如何，重要的是要弄清从定义目标到执行计划所需采取的步骤。

Our rocket is built with all the key pieces that will make it take off, fly and arrive at our desired destination. I hope this article serves you as a guide to understand these concepts and their differences better.

我们的火箭由所有关键零件组成，可以使它起飞，飞行并到达我们想要的目的地。 我希望本文能为您提供指南，以更好地理解这些概念及其差异。

Thank you for reading!

感谢您的阅读！

This article was written with Writty.

本文是用Writty撰写的。

Here are some articles which helped me find my way to explain some of these concepts. If you have time to read a bit more, I highly recommend them:

以下是一些文章，这些文章帮助我找到了解释其中一些概念的方法。 如果您有时间内容，我强烈建议他们：

Mission Versus Purpose: What’s The Difference? by Bruce Jones at disneyinstitute.com

任务与目的：有什么区别？ 由布鲁斯·琼斯(Bruce Jones)在disneyinstitute.com上

Your Company’s Purpose Is Not Its Vision, Mission, or Values by Graham Kenny at Harvard Business Review

《哈佛商业评论》的格雷厄姆·肯尼(Graham Kenny)表示，贵公司的目的不是愿景，使命或价值观

Values and Principles: A Forgotten Life Compass by Brian Pennie at thriveglobal.com

价值观和原则：布莱恩·彭妮(Brian Pennie)在thriveglobal.com上的《被遗忘的生活指南针》

Don’t Let Strategy Become Planning by Roger L. Martin at Harvard Business Review

哈佛商业评论杂志的罗杰·马丁(Roger L. Martin)着，不要让战略成为计划