M is for Mission Statement by Carol Harrison

 

M is for Mission Statement

There is a lot of information about finding our target audiences for marketing our writing. Where does our writing fit into the publishing world or is it for family, friends, and ourselves? What if we also enjoy doing a variety of creative endeavors? How do they fit together?

These were questions I asked myself often over the years. I am a writer who enjoyed sharing my writing with family and friends but also publishing it. I struggled with the marketing aspect of my writing. But I also enjoyed teaching workshops, speaking at various events and summer Bible camps and now I have added making Junk Journals for myself and others as well. How do these all fit together?

I took several workshops about discovering our vision for our creativity and then developing a personal mission statement to gel everything together. Rather like opening an umbrella over all the activities I liked to do, wanted more time to do, and how that would relate to others.

A mission statement reminds you and tells others about what you want to do or accomplish and what contributions you can make. It defines our purpose and ties all the aspects of how we use our God-given gifts together in one package that can also be shared with other people.

Here are some questions to ponder as you design your own personal mission statement after seeking God’s wisdom in doing so.  

-        What do I do?

-        Whom do we do it for – target audience?

-        What values are we bringing?

-        How do we do it? – speaking, workshops, writing, teaching, mentoring and the list can go on.

-        Why is what we do important to others?

-        What strategies can or do we use?

-        How would writing a mission statement help with our writing?

o   Finding target audience

o   Tying various aspects of creativity together

A personal mission statement is as unique as the individual writing it and their Gifts and abilities.

It took me a long time to think through and pray about what I do and why I do it. I asked myself often if I was moving in the right direction, the direction God wanted me to travel. Here is the end result of that journey to writing a mission statement.

Carol Harrison is passionate about mentoring people of all ages and abilities to find their voice and reach their fullest potential while encouraging them to find glimmers of hope and glimpses of joy.

I work towards this in my writing, my speaking, teaching, workshops, and even creating and sharing junk journals. It ties everything together as means of helping others find their voice, reach their potential and know that there is hope even in the tough times of life. 

Do you have a personal mission statement? What does it say? 

Carol Harrison enjoys sharing with people of all ages and abilities through her writing and speaking from her home in Saskatoon.