Why Humans Collect

The objective biology of it

We want to live to reproduce

But why would anyone want to live in pain?

What does better mean?

We collect to make everyone’s lives better

If you have ever received coaching or tips when generating a start-up, one common action is creating a mission statement. On the surface, mission statements seem to be an advertisement or public relation trick to boost the reputation of your company, and it some cases this maybe true. Your CTO may just want to focus on research and development and have nothing to do with this image that our mission statement portrays. But the reason start-ups need to create a mission statement with detail and thought as early as is accessible to them is the same reason why navigators use the North Star when taking upon a treacherous journey, for guidance and grounding. You need a strong goal to guide your decision making.

When you have a goal in mind, there is usually a starting point and an ending point. I want to finish this book, I want to run a marathon, I want to create a company that sells books online. Some of these goals produce journeys that are short, some produce journeys that are long, some have a textbook path already laid out, and some are paths less traveled, or not traveled at all. If you want to do something big, a goal is necessary creation.

Another path to really understand the goal of your mission is to ask why. Like any good scientist will do, the process of asking ‘why?’ will both test your knowledge stack of the specific topic you are dealing with and also teach you about concepts you are missing or haven’t thought about yet. This can also be seen as a first principles way of thinking; understand all the fundamentals that make up the lowest level of your topic and build up the correct path and design to achieve your goal.