Fit Tip Friday #72

📃Announcement

Welcome to this week's Fit Tip Friday.I took the last several weeks off to enjoy time with my newborn. My wife and I just recently welcomed our third daughter into the world, and praise the Lord, she and my wife are both doing well. This week, I want to step slightly outside my main lane (fitness stuff) and talk about the importance of having a family mission and vision.   

📃The Importance of a Family Mission and Vision

Honestly, I thought having a written family mission and vision was a corny concept. To me, it seemed like a subjective invention better suited for a corporate board room than my lowly living room.But this year I found myself trying to lead my family without knowing where it was that I was taking them. That's the problem a family mission and vision solves. It tells you where you are going and what it might look like on the way there. 

So this past October, I put pen to paper with my wife and we drafted a mission and vision for our household.I'll share more specifics of how we did this later on in this newsletter, but here are the main questions we answered: Mission: "What is it you and your family are trying to accomplish?"Vision: "What might it look like for you and your family to accomplish this mission?"Here are three benefits I've found from answering these questions. 1. A family mission and vision reminds you that your household can be productiveI first read about the idea of a "productive household" from C. R. Wiley's book "The Household and the War for the Cosmos". I highly recommend this book for a fuller description on a productive household, but here's the book's main idea. Over recent history (the last 200 years), American households lost their productive capacity. Most of what households historically produced (shelter, food, clothing, etc...) are now outsourced to massive corporations. And piety, a virtue that made us duty-bound to a good cosmic order, has been lost along with it all. While the economic prosperity of the last 200 years has caused an explosion of wealth, industry, and technology (I'm not complaining about AC y'all), the household has been stripped from its productive capacity. What's left is what Wiley calls a "recreation center". Having a family mission and vision unites your family around a shared purpose. A family mission and vision shakes off the shelved and dusty productive capacity that families used to have, and it helps you and your family figure out what that might look like for you. 2. A family mission and vision helps you make big decisionsWhere should your family live? What church should you attend? How many kids to have? What activities should your family do together? What kind of eduction should you provide your children? These are all questions a family has to grapple with, and having a mission and vision serves as your compass. With making these types of decisions, a lot of times we have to choose between several good alternatives. It's not very often we decide between a good and bad option. Making decisions is more like browsing a buffet with 15 meat options, and you are only allowed to pick three.  

Having a mission and vision can help you decide which good option you should say no to. 3. A family mission and vision aligns you and your wife towards a common goalThe importance of having an aligned mission and vision with you and your spouse cannot be overstated.Working through these questions with my wife was one of the most challenging but joyful exercises we have done together. It forced us to listen, understand, ask questions, and work through a shared mission and vision together.Having a mission and vision can help you and your spouse be on the same page with where you are going and what it might look like getting there. 

💪Drafting a Family Mission and Vision

A family mission and vision does not have to be complicated. Our mission & vision statements are about ~12 words each.Here are some of the key questions we answered to draft ours: Mission

• Main question: What is it you and your family are trying to accomplish? 

• What does God say about families? What did He create a family for? 

• Some scriptures we thought through:

  • Matthew 28:18-20, Genesis 1:26-28, Deuteronomy 6, Colossians 1, 3, Ephesians 5-6, etc....

  • We just tried our best to express these truths in a way that makes sense for our household.

Vision

• Main question: What might it look like for you and your family to accomplish the mission?

• What are you/your wife skilled at? What talents do you/her have? What skills and talents do your children have? What are you interested in? 

• What do you want your household to be known for? 

• What do you want __________ to have looked like at the end of your lives? 

  • Insert: Walk with the Lord, marriage, children, family, friends, vocation, education and recreation as some categories to consider. 

• What do you want a day to look like in 5-10 years? Spend 10-15 minutes writing this out. 

  • My wife/I wrote this out separately then talked through it together. 

📃Resources 

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📃Books, Podcasts & Resources for Family Mission and VisionHere are some of the resources that have helped me think through a family mission and vision statement. None of these are affiliate links. Durable Trades - Rory GrovesThis book started it all for me. Rory Groves documents the seismic shift the family economy experienced over the last 200 years, and asks the question: what family-centered trades have withstood everything from the Industrial Revolution, into the Great Depression, through two World Wars, and to modern day? This is a fascinating read, and a great resource for parents thinking about vocations for their children. The Household and the War for the Cosmos - C.R. WileyThis is another great read, along the same thought-lines as Durable Trades. In this book, Wiley examines how piety and productivity have been lost in the household, and how we might begin to recover them. Your House Needs a Mission - Bright HearthIn this podcast, couple Brian and Lexy Sauvé share some of the reasons why households ought to have a mission, along with some practical considerations when putting one together.  

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📃Recommended Home Gym EquipmentAs always, this is my recommended list of home gym equipment. These are affiliate links. 1a. Kettlebell Kings - The Quality Purchase1b. Lifeline Kettlebell - The Budget Purchase2. Pull-Up Bar3. Headphones 4. An Ab Roller5. Exercise Mat6. A Jump Rope7. A Watch Pedometer8. SafeRingz - A Silicone Wedding BandThese are affiliate links, and as an Amazon associate I earn on qualifying purchases. But these are all equipment that I have personally used or highly recommend!

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