Woke up feeling a little overwhelmed...then I remembered that everything I want to do today is part of living my mission so it will be a great day no matter how much gets accomplished!
It is now it is 8:45 pm and I feel a sense of accomplishment in this day.
For exactly the reason I thought I would at 8:45 this morning.
Not everything on my list got done, but I lived my mission. So there was accomplishment far deeper than checking off a task list.
Here are some of the things I did today...
Visited with a friend
Made sugar cookies with 2 sweet girls and 1 silly Isaac.
A few loads of laundry.
Ironing.
And it all fits my mission. I love having a mission that fits all of my life into a simple phrase.
To inspire, believe in, and accomplish growth in myself and those around me.
That's it. One simple phrase.
My last quarter of college I had to take a senior capstone class that tied together the four years of schooling I was finishing. Except my program was so small we didn't have one. So I took a Journey Through Leadership class instead. It was there that I was guided through writing my mission.
I think the coolest thing about my mission statement was that I wrote it when I was thinking my life was going to be a career in economics (specifically having a PhD in economics and working for the Department of State on the economic mission to the European Union) and it still works as a stay at home mom with a part time business selling children's books.
My mission has become part of my life habits. I don't necessarily think it every day, but it is a part of my every day. Here are a few ways this is true:
One of my favorite uses of my mission statement is using it to say "yes" or "no". There are so many demands on our time these days...church, kids, community, etc. When I get asked to do something, I can evaluate it against my mission statement and determine my answer. Now, my mission statement is a habit so I generally don't even think really hard about this, I just know if something fits. This is important because I have only so much time, energy, money, emotional resilience and doing one thing means I can't do something else. But, I also want to please people so I have the tendency to fill guilty about saying "no"...but if I am saying no because it doesn't match my mission I have almost no guilt at all!
Another way I love my mission being part of my life is that even if my "to do" list isn't completed, I still have accomplishment. This happens more days than I would really like, but still, I have accomplishment when I live my mission. That might mean setting aside my list to spend extra time pouring into my boys personal growth or decorating cookies with little girls. At the end of the day, I have accomplishment. Bringing it back to a daily habit, I don't have to write my "to do" list sitting in front of my mission statement...what I want to do generally flows out of that mission.
In general I think mission statements help ground us to our values and set a vision for our future. To create a future that is what we want it to be rather than just were we are pulled or how we feel on a certain day.
If you don't have a mission statement, I really recommend spending some time to find one....and make sure it is broad and simple enough to fit your life today and in the future. And check back here because I am going to have another post soon on figuring out your mission!
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