How to Write A Mission Statement
A year ago I was talking with my brother about my idea to start Pine Daisy House. He, directly and lovingly said, “I’m not going to let you begin this blog until you write a mission statement and imperatives.” He went on to tell me the importance of a mission statement and why it simply needed to happen before I moved forward. I (full disclosure here) begrudgingly said yes. I mean, I just wanted to take cute pictures of my food and house, what was the big deal?!?!
Boy am I glad he “made” me write one. To say a mission statement was necessary for PDH to get launched last year is an absolute understatement. The simple fact is, 2018’s mission statement was a grounding force like no other. It helped define my work and vision for the infancy of Pine Daisy House.
I’m going to share with you my process, that’s it. I literally have no clue if it’s the correct way to go about writing a mission statement. It’s how I wrote mine though and I’m pretty darn proud of it.
I’m a wife, mama, teacher, blogger and IG-er. If you want a formal education on mission statement writing, stop now and go to a formal conference or take a college class. Like all how to posts I write though, my heart is for you to find helpful words here that can at the very least point your toward intention in your life.
Don’t Overthink Your Mission Statement
It can be easy to overthink what you’re writing. Don’t do it. Your mission is a call to action, plain and simple. I wrote mine with specifically 12 months in mind. I knew Pine Daisy House’s identity would likely shift throughout 2018, and it sure did. But I also needed to ground it in a series of unshakeable truths (as in 3 sentences worth of unshakeable truth) so my foundation would be stable.
Your business may be in a season where a 3 year mission makes sense, maybe you’re ready to tackle a 5 year mission. I simply started with a year, it seemed nice and tidy for this first one.
Start Here
If you sense a readiness to write a mission statement, give yourself the course of a week. But first start by doing some soul-searching, praying, and thinking. Ask yourself these questions:
- What timespan do you want your mission to cover?
- Reading anything right now that can get the mission statement/purpose driven/ goal-oriented juices flowing? How about podcasts, blog posts, or articles?
- How could a mission statement free you to be creative more for your blog, business, personal life, or Instagram marketing work?
- What are the top two or three areas in the last year you wish you had more time for? Would writing a mission statement provide a lens through which you can carve out more time for those things?
- Find a person to whom you can process. When it comes to Pine Daisy House my sister is my person. It’s great to talk and think out loud with her about the nitty gritty (I’m talking color of my flatlay backgrounds here people) or the conceptional substance of PDH. A person to talk to, who gets it, is immeasurable helpful.
- When you have a rest in your spirit about most of these thoughts and questions it’s time for the next three easy steps.
Three Easy Steps
Next carve out three 20 minute writing sessions to do the following during each time slot.
- Brainstorming: Simply write words during this first 20 minutes. I recommend nouns (the who’s and what’s of your entity) verbs (think active, and actionable), and adjectives (ways people would describe your customer service, your Instagram stories, or the vibe of your blog, etc).
- Take those nouns, verbs, and adjectives then thread them into powerful sentences that state the truth you want your entity to embody. Think one to three sentence here. Wordsmith until your mission statement is a clear truth that drives you to action and stirs your heart with excitement.
- For the last session, it’s time to write imperatives. These are directives you will follow in order to keep your mission statement in tact over its lifetime. Think of this step as the road map to success or the advice you are giving yourself so you can meet your mission.
My 2018 Mission Statement and Imperatives
PDH’s mission is to share ways to live slowly and intentionally. Domestic, nature and mountain lifestyle images will drive the creative content and challenge the reader to think purposefully about the way they life. Readers will be encouraged to live grace-filled, beautiful, focused, lives.
- Work hard and smart by having a long term focus.
- Serve readers with timely posts.
- Set manageable expectations and boundaries with consistent work times.
- Commit to beautiful photos and clear personable writing that’s not too long.
- Have fun and strive to enable PDH to provide supplementary household income.
Print, Display, and Go Forth
Well, actually just for good measure you should probably sleep on it. In the morning when you’re bright- eyed and bushy-tailed reread this puppy and make any final tweaks.
Now, it’s time to print. I even laminated mine (nerd alert, I know). Then I displayed it right here next to my monitor until it fell and the dog literally ate it. But for the first four months of blogging infancy having those words pinned to the wall next to the computer was a lifeline for me.
Looking back on my mission, truths, and foundational statements for Pine Daisy House I’ll be honest I’m very proud of this baby. The time has flown by and yes the identity of this space has shifted considerably but my foundation has remained rock solid.
A mission statement can help anyone, with anything! Don’t you think stringing a few sentences together to help give your time intention and your focus laser-sighted purpose is worth the effort?
Our best, most valuable, resource is time. A mission statement will help you make the most of it and keep you grounded in what is important.
Well friend I better go grab my journal, tomorrow will be a new year and I have a mission statement to write. What about you?
With hope for you and your intentional home,
