So did anyone else notice that when I did the Simplify Your Home to Simply Live Teaser, I said that I would talk about Family Mission Statements first? And then jumped into paper management? Yeesh. I’ve had my head in the clouds with my new project and lost my notes and otherwise had my head in the clouds. Anyway, lets back up a bit and go from taking back your time to family mission statements.
What is a family mission statement?
It’s a short, written statement of your family’s purpose and should guide the actions of the family and provide a sense of direction.
This doesn’t sound like something that will simplify my home OR my life. Why should I have one?
Only by identifying what your family culture is about and where you would like to be in life, can you make good decisions. It’s like trying to get from Detroit to Salt Lake City without a map. You could drive around forever and not get to Salt Lake City, especially if you ignored the signs or made wrong turns. It’s so easy to be distracted by the good and let the better fall by the wayside.
Hmmm. Maybe. How do we make one? There is so much to think about!
Here are some questions to help guide your thoughts:
- If your home could be filled with one emotion, what would it be?
- What would a stranger think if they saw your family?
- What is one principle that you would like your to operate under?
- What are your goals as a family?
- What are your top 4 priorities as a family?
- Where do you see yourselves in 10 years? What does your life look like?
These are just some springboard questions to get things rolling.
My husband/kids will think this is silly. Can I just do it myself?
Nope; sorry. You CAN play to your husband’s needs/dreams though. Shortly after the birth of Itty Bitty, we got to go on a date & I explained what I wanted to do and asked him a few of the big picture visionary-type questions — ones that asked him his dreams and desires. It worked really well to ask him about his dreams & hopes for his family and his life. Since this was “my” project/idea, I listened and asked questions and distilled it down until we were both happy about it.
When we were done, this is what ours looked like:
We believe that our purpose as a family is to be true to the purpose for which we were created. We will accomplish this by:
– valuing flexibility & simplicity as our main guiding principles.– making our home a place of love, laughter & learning.– prioritizing people & their needs above other things.– interacting with each other in a spirit of love & generosity.
If you’ve written a family mission statement, I’d love to see it! Put it in the commentsor if you’ve written about it, leave the link.
And since I forgot last time, here is the May schedule:
5/11 – Personal Mission Statements
5/18 – House Rules & Display
5/25 – Summary Post
This post is linked to Works For Me Wednesday @ We Are THAT Family.
[…] week, we worked on (or started, anyway) our Family Mission Statements. This week, we are going to talk about PERSONAL Mission Statements. I had you do a family […]