Welcome back to Mission Statement Month here at Confessions. If you haven’t had a chance, pop back and listen to the previous January episodes so you can get yourself up to speed on mission statements. This week, we’re going to focus on why I take the time to write mission statements and how goals can lead to achieving my mission.

Last week I mentioned that we’d touch on the difference between a mission and a goal. A mission answers the question, “Why am I doing this?” Goals answer the question, “How am I going to do this?” In other words, goals are the steps that lead to our mission. For example, if one of my mission statements is: I prioritize restoration. The daily goal might be: Start getting ready for bed at 9pm, lights out at 10pm. When I don’t consider my “why” first, my goals fall to the wayside. When I know WHY I’m doing something, I’m so much more likely to follow through on that daily goal.

Finding Clarity in Chaos: Navigating Life’s Challenges with Purpose

As I grew into adulthood, I quickly realized that life is a steady stream of ups and downs. Some of the challenges I have seen coming, others have completely blindsided me. Learning how to navigate and balance marriage, parenting, family, work and life has been genuinely difficult for me. As TeamConfessioners know, I am a sloooow study. And often, the only mission I’ve been on is to hold on tight until the storm of struggle passes me by…only to find another storm picking up speed right behind it. For someone like me, who feels easily swamped, forgets almost everything, and has trouble making sound decisions in the midst of chaos, I have a tendency to completely abandon myself and my goals due to good old fashioned overwhelm. Having a mission statement—one that I constructed when I was calm and connected to “the me I want to be” —has been like a quiet shelter from life’s storms, a shelter where I can collect my thoughts and take time to be intentional with my choices. 

Throughout the years, I have written statements for my marriage, for raising children, for running a house project, for cancer—you name it. Some of my statements are long, but others are quite short, just a few phrases to just keep me on my path when challenges arise. 

The Heart of Mission Statements: Finding Answers and Guiding Choices

While I’d love to give you even more examples of how to write your statement, I think it’s important that these phrases come directly from your heart. Because this is what I’ve found to be true: in the words I write lies the answer key to my life. When the world gets to be too much, and I either don’t know the right answer or I’m too tired to remember the right answer, I can look to my mission statement. I have already written down the choices that align with the person I want to be. And when each of my little daily choices align with the person I want to be, before I know it, I’ve become the person I want to be.

I’m going to leave you with this Anne Frank quote because she pretty much says it all here: 

Our lives are fashioned by our choices.
First we make our choices.
Then our choices make us.

Thank you, Anne Frank. Thank you TeamConfessioners, for joining me for Mission Statement Month. I’m happy I was finally able to share with all of you the longer explanation of how to go about writing a mission statement. And whether you thought about your mission this month or you’re not quite ready yet, the posts will be here for you when you’re ready, or have any questions reach out and I’ll answer them to the best of my ability.. Now next week is February already…I have some thoughts about love that I’d like to talk with you all about, so please tune in. Until then, enjoy what’s left of January! 

Hey before you go, don’t forget to leave a comment below—I really love hearing from you! And, didn’t Crearé do such a lovely job on the new website?!