If you have taken the time to create a mission statement, congratulations! Knowing where you’re headed is half the battle! Now it’s time to strategize.
I feel like I should use the analogy of a target with bows and arrows and quivers and things, but since I have never actually held a bow or arrow in my hand, I will use a dartboard. Here goes.
Your Mission is the actual dartboard; it’s where you’re aiming.
Your Strategy is your plan for how you’ll hold, aim, and throw the dart. That’s what we’re talking about in this post. In the next post we’ll talk about the third component:
The Execution of that plan, which is the actual action.
Of course, creating a mission statement alone is not enough, it must be accompanied by a strategy. The strategy is your plan for how you will carry out your mission. As an example, let’s take a minute and look at Ron’s and my first point on our mission statement:
To pass on our faith in Jesus Christ to our children.
Our strategy was to:
- Read the Bible and Bible stories to our children when they were young.
- Teach our children to read well so that they could read their own Bibles when they were older.
- Pray for our children.
- Teach our children how to pray.
- Pray together as a family.
- Talk with our children about our faith.
- Provide for them our own example of living out our faith.
Give yourself time to think through the best strategy for carrying out your mission. Don’t skimp here, this is just as important as knowing your mission.
Most of my summertime each year was spent reviewing our mission, praying for God’s guidance, and choosing curriculum and extra-curricular activities for the upcoming school year. I was basically planning an updated strategy for carrying out the same mission for the next school year. Note that the mission did not change, but the strategy changed from year to year, and sometimes mid-school year if necessary.
Like me, some of us love to plan; however, I have talked to enough free-spirited homeschool moms over the years to know that not all of us are alike. How wonderful! It is true, God did create each of us uniquely. No matter what kind of mom you are, you will be better on your way once you know where you are going and have a plan for how to get there.
Action Steps:
- Review your mission statement.
- Pray and consider how best to carry out that mission.
- Put your plan in writing.
May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. Psalm 20:4 NIV