" What’s most important? • What gives your life meaning? • What do you want to be and to do in your life? Many people capture their answers to such questions in a written personal creed or mission statement. Such statements capture what you want to be and what you want to do in your life and the principles upon which being and doing are based. Clarity on these issues is critical because it affects everything else—the goals you set, the decisions you make, the paradigms you have, the way you spend your time. Returning to the ladder metaphor, a personal mission statement provides the fundamental criteria for deciding which wall you want to put your ladder against. "

― Stephen R. Covey , First Things First