Narrowing the Vision - Action Gap of Your Mission Statement

Now that you have put a fair bit of work and effort into thinking about creating your family vision and mission statement, I wanted to talk about what you can do to narrow the vision - action gap.

We all experience it.

What is the Vision - Action Gap?

Even with the best of intentions, our theories about the ideal parents we want to be and lives we wish to lead does not always quite add up to the reality of our day to day lives. Because we all have challenging days, days when we are tired, or our children are tired, and our reactions and actions do not have the intentionality we desire them to have.

In these moments, or phases of life, it can be easy to become discouraged.

I know how easy it has been for me in the past to beat myself up over this lack of perfection, or inability to follow my goals every single day. Which is why I developed some strategies for myself to help pick myself up in difficult times.

Some Strategies to Combat Disillusionment

• remind yourself to be gentle, realize that it is healthy and normal to not always be at your best
• set up a bare minimum daily schedule to ensure you are able to meet the bare minimums of your mission statement, use this for days when you are not feeling your best
• give yourself easy goals to accomplish that are aligned with your mission statement, focusing perhaps on one of the areas you may be beating yourself up over.
• examine your day in the evening, on those days when you are tempted to only focus on the negative, I encourage you to think of at least five good moments or reactions in that day
• let the inner voice of your parenthood be predominantly positive
• have simple strategies for inviting happiness into even the most difficult days: enjoy a special beverage, have a hot shower, read a good book, journal, call a friend - whatever is most helpful for you.
• be as open with your partner as possible about struggles and areas you need help and accountability
• as I mention in my workbook, have your mission statement available for reviewing weekly, or whenever you need a refresh.

Are there any other strategies you use for difficult days that help you to get back on track, especially when you feel discouraged?

Check out my post on how to write a mission statement, five reasons parents need a mission statement or get my free workbook.

Thank you for following along on this new segment. I am really excited to see more and more parents, including myself, living a more intentional parenting lifestyle and more fully embracing the beautiful (and challenging) vocation that is parenthood.

If you want a more in-depth look at how to write your own parenting mission statement, click on the link below and get started on your free workbook.

Thank you for reading! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. I would love to hear from you. I would also love to hear any suggestions for posts you would like me to write about. And if you are interested in following along in our daily adventures, follow us on Instagram where I post daily.

God bless,
Olivia Fischer