Benjamin Franklin

Sometimes a mission statement can be a concise list of values defined in your own words—the approach Franklin used to guide his life toward greatness.

Through study and reading, Franklin cultivated a list of 13 virtues he considered “necessary or desirable.”

Temperance: Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
Order: Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
Industry: Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
Moderation: Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.
Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

To make sustainable progress, he focused on one virtue a week and tracked his progress in a small book. (He confessed that order was the most difficult for him!)

Franklin later wrote: “I was surprised to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined; but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish… Though I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavor, a better and a happier man.”

Does Franklin’s list of values spark any ideas for your own mission statement?

Ready To Start Your Mission Statement?

A mission statement is a clear and concise summary of your purpose, priorities, and things you need to do each day to reach your goals. Defining it can lend powerful direction to your work, your family, and your life. Now let’s put it all into your own words.

More Inspiration