How To Find A Mission
Updated: May 18, 2022
Video Transcription
I am just excited to continue to talk mission with you. So I'm going to give it a couple of minutes As people start to log on and Facebook gets set up here. But how are you guys all doing today? I know for us you might get distracted. There is construction going on at our house. So there is, you know, saws going, hammers, as we're updating our girls' room. So, I hope it's not too distracting and that the noise cancellation can maybe draw on some of that out.
But I am excited to continue to share my favorite part of this company and that is mission. So, yesterday, we went over why having a mission is important in your house and now today, we're going to be learning how to even choose a mission if you don't have one and then, how do we even bring it into our home? I know that gets a little confusing. So, that is what we are going to go over today and I hope that I can inspire you to a mission if you don't have one or how you can actually implement it in your home and so I will be asking later on in this episode if you have a nonprofit and a space in your house that you're thinking of, we're going to go live brainstorming. So, being real open and vulnerable with you guys as we brainstorm but that is the fun part about how we're bringing missions into homes. It's brainstorming. What is that design element that we can bring into the home? But first, we have to have a mission and not all of us have a mission or we never even thought about it and there's so many to choose from.
Where do I even begin? I actually bought this book for my girls. And it's called Making a Difference. We found it at the American Girls Store when I was shopping with our third girl getting her American Girl doll. I saw this and I immediately thought of my kids. And my oldest, I will tell you ate this book up. She read it so quickly and was so inspired to go beyond to make a difference even being only nine years old and I just I wish that for all of us. So, I did take some tips from this book. I highly recommend getting it for your kids to get the conversation started.
The first thing we are going to do to help in finding a mission is a Mind Map. We're going to take you in different avenues to dig deeper into your passions. I actually grabbed some paper here. This is an exercise you can do now or do later. But what you're first going to do is you're just going to simply draw a circle in the middle and write “mission”. This is going to help us start to find missions that we love. And when I think of missions there's different categories of nonprofits or missions that we can support and be passionate about. So, each of those will come off of that main circle. I have five different missions or types of missions that we could support. So, you're just going to come off of there and start drawing these circles. And the five that I have, right? You can support the environment. So, I put that in one circle. Uh social, right? Different social nonprofits. Medical. These are where your cures and stuff will go. Animals which is where my daughter went right away and then more global issues. I know this is really messy. It’s meant to just be a sketch for you. So, we start to break out what different missions could be and then we dive deeper. So, if you are someone that tends to want to really support the environment and that is important to you. Just head to that bubble. We start branching off of that bubble even deeper of a specific nonprofits or mission to go after. So, you could have climate, right? You could have, what other things? We could have energy. You could have disaster relief and you just start filling those out and you are only going to the ones that you are drawn to. So, we could fill this whole thing out and I will try to actually fill one out for you as an example that you can get later on if you're coming back. For example, when you're thinking about social. You have different missions about age, race, inclusion, human services, different quality, religious, those are the kind of things that will fall under social. When you're talking about medical missions, think about different diseases and cures for those or support for different diseases, accessibility, getting research completed for medical research and health care. Those are just some examples of how to dive deeper into the medical field. When it comes to animals, you have pets. So, that'd be more like the Humane Society or endangered and protection for animals. So, those are just ways you can go deeper there and then, finally, the fifth category I had was global. These are where you start to talk about refugees, education, clean water, how to bring business into different economies. This is just how I broke it up.
This is how I started my mind map, this helps me to see the bigger picture and then start diving deeper into the areas I'm drawn to so that I can finally find a mission I am passionate specifically about this mission and whether you want to find a nonprofit to support or if you just want to be an activist for that mission, either option is fine. It’s just finding something that you can have bigger purpose in.
So, that is a little bit about mind mapping. If you don't have a mission yet. Start diving in. Even just Google missions for different nonprofits and you can start to see some of the subjects. Or the missions that are being covered in those. I want something to do with animals. So animal nonprofits. And you can start to just Mind Map research different examples. Then aski, what do you care about? You know, what kind of things do you want to do with your gifts? Just start asking the questions so that way you can come around together as a family to support one bigger mission and then, What I love about this book that I have here is once you kind of figure out where you're headed, they give different ways you can support which I found really insightful. You can do different art to support them, or you could teach about them, have activism with it or the simple volunteer for a nonprofit and support them that way or through donations. So, there's different ways that you can support a mission. It doesn't always have to look the same and there are a multitude of ways to find that bigger purpose but I just urge you to take the time to find something that you can put purpose into.
Then, what we do at Lykke Haven is we bring it into your home. So, this is the part where I'm asking for participation and what nonprofits you guys support and give me a room and we're going to just start whiteboarding. I used to do this at Disher and we a whole whiteboard room, so I got bit by that whiteboard bug of just sketching. And even though I'm not the best sketcher, just brainstorming is fun to see things come alive. We're going to do that here today and when I told my husband I was going to do this, he was like are you sure you want to do this? And I told him, well, give me an example that you think is going to be difficult. He actually gave me Humane Society and then doing a master bath and how do you bring those two together? He was actually floored that I figured out a possible solution. A little odd but a possible solution. You could have a candle that you enhance with maybe a dog collar with your pet's name on it or anything like that. So, yeah, he was just surprised I could figure out, not that it's the best solution but it's just great to get the brainstorming going. It is so fun to do!
I also want to talk about, it's not that you need a mission for every room in your house because that gets just to be all this mental clutter. It is really about choosing maybe one that your family can support and go after and find purpose and just implement it in one of the public spaces in your house. So, one of those rooms that you're all in all the time to remember. Then, if let's say, you're interested in something different, maybe you add that mission to your more personal space. So, I know I've done this before where we'll implement a mission into the living room that the whole family supports and then, when it came to my client's specific office, we implemented one mission that was really all about her and what she was passionate about. So, it was more personal to her. We added it to her personal space but not every room has to have a different mission. Otherwise, it will get cluttered in your home.
so, we have on here Gilda's Club and where are we going to be implementing this something for Gilda's Club in the home? If want to type that in and then we'll get brainstorming. So, while you're typing that in, I'm going to just verify and look up Gilda's Club. So, I am familiar with them. They are in Lowell and I know we have Laugh Fest but I always like to start with a little research of who the nonprofit is. Okay. So, going on their website. “our mission, as the largest, professionally-led, non-profit network of cancer support worldwide, the cancer support community is dedicated to ensuring that all people impacted by cancer are empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action, and sustained by community.” Like I said, I know they always have Laugh Fest . I am just scrolling through, getting to know them better. Actually the history of it was because of Gilda Radner who was actually a comedian. So, that is why they have Laugh Fest because it's all about laughing together. On their little logo here, it says, in this together, learn, share, and laugh for Gilda's Grand Rapids. So, all about laughing, comedy, there's the infamous Red Door. So, just starting to think through how we can do this.
So, this is for a four seasons room. I'm imagining people coming together, a lighter atmosphere. Okay. So, this is where it starts to get fun and we start brainstorming. So, you start grabbing a piece of paper and you can do this at home if you want. You can send me a message. I'd love to just be creative in how you can actually implement a mission in your home. So, a couple ideas that come to mind right away are the infamous comedy microphone. So, like I said, I wasn't the best sketcher but I did love brainstorming. So, no judging on my ability to sketch. I know our industrial designer at Disher would be laughing about now at me but that's okay. All in good fun. So, I'm imagining this like vintage microphone and I'm just drawing it here to kind of spark ideas. So, I have this microphone here. This vintage microphone and already ideas are coming to my head. So, if you have a cabinet in your four seasons room, usually cabinets, whether there's a TV on top, you have a couple doors and some shelves and how cool would it be if you had an inlay in your door. Okay, let's see here. A metal inlay. So, then, you would cut out of the metal those lines of the microphone here and then that circle could be red. So, I have, yeah, I have a red here. Okay. Like I said, we're doing this on the fly. This will be a fun video to even watch later to get some ideas. So, Okay. So, here's what I'm kind of imagining as one of the options, right? You have your stand that a TV could be on top of and this inlay. Sometimes, you'll see that metal grate and imagining it's metal but the lines of the microphone are cut out and then that circle in the middle, painting it red because Gilda always has a red, for cancer and then, the red door. This is something you could do that would be really interesting and not so obvious which will be fun for the space.
Another really simple idea that came to mind. If you have a door on the Four Seasons porch, on the inside where it is in the Four Seasons Room, you could paint that red. It doesn't affect necessarily the rest of the home but inside the Four Seasons Room, you could just have a simple red door. Whether you have glass in it or not, or if it's a solid door painting the inside of the Four Seasons Porch, painting it a red door, or having a red door as a piece of art in the space depending on how the room is put together.
Another idea I just had kind of combining the two. Like I said, this is, I just love this. Okay. So, imagine starting this is me quickly sketching because I know I don't want to take up too much time. Okay, a red door, right? And then, imagine on top of the red door, maybe you have this. Okay, I'm going to draw on a separate piece of paper. You have this piece of art on top of the red door. It's a framed piece of art and you have that microphone, that vintage microphone. So, again, off to one side here and you know, you could even grab one of these microphones and make it 3D and stick out from this piece of art and then, what you could have, you could have the red circles still on the microphone. Then you could just have this almost like graffiti between graffiti and chalkboard type feel to the background and you have just like all these jokes going back and forth and at the bottom, you can have what was the three words again. It was learn, share, laugh, and you could have those at the bottom of this. Not the best marker to write with. Learn share, and laugh. So, you're almost like putting this piece of vintage art on a red door, background, on your wall. So, it's a very large piece of art and you have a microphone, more of a vintage style and you could even make that 3D by putting one on here and then, you have this like almost blackboard graffiti depending on the style of the room and you're having all these different jokes that are told on it. So, it's something fun to read and then you have their Learn, share, and laugh. At the bottom there. Those are just a couple ideas. Obviously, you want to make sure that it goes with the style of the room. This was just a fun brainstorming exercise to show you guys that you can take anything and start being creative with how you actually implement it in your space.
I know a couple that I've done So, there's the obvious one of art and that one is in my post. You see that on one of the images there. I've done a coin on a planter. My client loved her hiking trip that was healing for her from Outward Bound is the mission that did this. So, it's just supporting of different military people. She had a lot of growth and a lot of healing on this trip. So, we took her coin and we put it with a leather strap and we made it look really nice and we put it on a planter and put a plant on her desk. Now, she can always remember the growth that she had and how important this mission is to her. She can see this mission everyday in a very unique way.
By bringing in a mission into your home, it draws the questions from people that come into the space. You know, TV stand looks different, tell me about it and now you get to share about Gilda's Club. These are just some of the fun things that I get to do. I get to sit with families, help them just start the conversation of missions and if you're looking for any local ones, check out my post. I do a really fast slideshow of a bunch of different missions in the area. And start a mind map with your family. That's the action step for today. Is get your mind map going. As far as what type of missions do you find that you're passionate about that you and your family can be passionate about. So starting with the five main categories looking into environment, social, medical, animals, or global and start there. You know, what are we really passionate about and then start diving deeper and deeper until you find something that you're like, yes, we can go after this. Let's find a nonprofit, let's be an activist for this. You know, my daughter she chose to protect tigers and so she honestly, she just drew up all these posters, these beautiful posters and pinned it up at tennis. We were at Premier Tennis. That's where she does lessons. She just pinned it up and she's already starting to make a difference and that is so fun. So, we're doing her room. That's the construction that you're hearing, and in that room, it's two of my daughters and they each have their own separate spaces, their own lofts and so if that's the nonprofit or the mission that she wants to support with her personal area, then, by all means, we've already talked about it. Hey, let's make a really fun picture of a tiger and put it on her bookcase that's in her loft and now, she will be constantly reminded that it's important to support something that's bigger than herself and that is just so exciting to watch your kids face light up and to realize that at such an young age.
Then bringing it home with you and having it in one of your family spaces. Some mission that your family can come around on. I urge you to just start diving in. What missions do you guys love? And if you want help and how to actually bring them to life in your home, please message me. I would love to brainstorm. I need to, you know, make my own whiteboard room here. Now that I'm not at Disher anymore. Um, but I love sketching things up, sketching ideas up and being creative. So, I'd love to hear how the action step went with the mind map with you and your family and then, you know, what mission you guys chose and if you need any help, I would love to help.
Tomorrow, I will be covering some of the missions we have in our family. Although, I've already shared some of them, but we'll just start diving into what we support and how we put that into reality in our home. Then we will be moving on to that third word and we'll start going into why connection is so important on what day is it? Thursday. I'm losing my days already. So, but please join me. Share this video with anyone that you think would find it interesting. We're always trying to grow our community and how we can inspire you to bring these words to life and create your own Lykke Haven. So, once again, Becky Bonnell with Lykke Haven and I hope you guys can join me tomorrow.
Have a great day!
Lykke Haven Design is a full service, purpose-driven interior design firm serving clients in West Michigan. We work with clients from Ada, to Grand Rapids, to Holland (and the occasional out of state). Our mission is to create Intentional Interiors curated with a Meaningful Mission that Cultivate Connection. We do this through a process driven by Human-Centered Design. We would love to discuss your next project and how we can help.
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