Vision and mission are very closely related. Your vision could be entitled MY BIG DREAM, and your mission is WHAT I'M GOING TO DO ABOUT IT.

Your vision is a picture of the future that you create with your imagination. You need to use your imagination to create it, because the future is an imaginary place that does not exist in present reality. Your vision is a guiding image of accomplishment and fulfillment, not just for you, but for others as well. Then, within the context of your overall life vision, your mission captures the essence of your life, the reason why you're here.

Picture setting out on a trip from Chennai to Bangalore - but on this trip you are referring to a map of Kerala as you make decisions about where to make your next turn! Not only would you become very confused, but you would certainly have lost all possibility of reaching your desired destination! That's because your vision about where you want to go does not match the map you have chosen to get you there.

Yet how many of us live our lives like that? We're trying to get somewhere that we find fulfilling, but we're following a map created by our parents, our boss, the Wall Street Journal, the latest talk show - or worse yet, "the job market". Who knows where "the job market" is going to be six months from now, never mind a lifetime from now?!