When I look back on how 2015 has gone for me so far, one thing that I’m really proud of is how well I’ve been able to balance work life with family life. As a work at home mom, it can be hard because my office is in my home (right smack in the middle of our playroom, if you’re wondering). So far, I’ve been able to say yes to some really great things this year because I said no to other things.

One of the things I attribute to my success is the time I took to cast vision for my family and develop a family mission statement. When opportunities came my way, I went back to my mission statement to see if it aligned with what I wanted for my family.

Wikipedia defines a mission statement like this:

A mission statement is a statement of the purpose of a company, organization or person, its reason for existing. The mission statement should guide the actions of the organization, spell out its overall goal, provide a path, and guide decision-making.

My family’s mission statement is this:

The Rongner family is a family who is actively engaged with each other and with our close family and friends. As parents, our goal is to raise empathetic and self sufficient children who love their neighbors as themselves. We are a family who rests hard, plays hard, and seeks to live a healthy active life.

There were quite a few things I said no to this year. I was able to say no without guilt. And most importantly, I knew why I was saying no.

Here are a few things I said no to professionally:

• A leadership role within my church that would have required me to be to church on time at least two Sundays month. This position would have been a great resume builder for me, but just wasn’t right for my family.
• A leadership role within the board of directors of a local non profit I serve on. The non profit is one of my favorite community organizations,  but the leadership role would have required a lot of planning meetings and I would have had to attend a lot of evening events.
• A freelance opportunity that would have been amazing professionally but would have also required a ton of sacrifice from my family.
• An all expenses paid travel writing trip that would have required a childcare scramble for four days.

These were all big deal things that in the past I would have said yes to before I had a chance to really even think about what the outcome of my actions might be for my family. They were professional opportunities that would have looked great on my resume, but wouldn’t have benefited my family.

Here are a few things I said no to personally:

• Staying up past 10:00 pm.
• Attending a lot of events and activities on the weekends. Instead of attending a lot of festivals and fairs, we swing hard into rest on the weekends, playing at the playground or swimming together at the YMCA.
• Excessive amounts of extracurricular activities for the kids. So far, our one activity at a time rule has worked out well. We’re never rushing around to multiple events on one side of town and then the other.

If you’re a Boss Mom, you’ve likely got a mission statement for your business.  So why not develop one for your family too?

Here are some questions you can ask to get you on the right track.

1. What values are we going to use to help us make big decisions?
2. When our children are grown, what character qualities do we want them to have?
3. What are core values as a family?
4. What are our priorities and how do we spend our time?
5. What are our goals as parents?

Do you have a family mission statement? How would having one help you professionally?

NJ Rongner is an Internetter based in Western Massachusetts. She got her start as a lifestyle and parenting blogger at A Cookie Before Dinner, where she inspires her readers to chase a sweet life well lived. In addition to blogging, NJ is a naptime hustler who works as a virtual assistant and freelance writer. She’s a bonafide jack of all trades and has extensive knowledge in the nuts and bolts of blogging, social, media, and content creation and strategy.

When she isn’t busy taking the internet by storm or chasing her children, she can be found drinking the entire pot of coffee, watching Gilmore Girls, or scrolling through Instagram. Speaking of which she’d love to connect with you there.