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"Regain Your Confidence, Reclaim Your Life">
Designing Your Ideal Life Part I
March 29, 2010
Designing Your Ideal Life Part 1 or How Do You Do It All?
How do you do it all? Recently someone asked me that exact
question. How do you do it all? I'm a WAHHM - a
work-at-home-homeschool-mom. Over the past 10 years I've
completed my business degree, spent two years working as
administrative assistant for our local non-profit domestic
violence shelter,
made the decision to remove my, then six year old, son from
public school in order to teach him myself from home,
recovered from a broken vertabrae in my lower back,
started three businesses, co-captained our Relay for Life
team 3 years running, spent two years on the skate park
action committee helping to raise funds to build our local
skate park,and obtained my life coaching certification, all
while being an active wife, mother, grandmother, homemaker
and community activist.
Wow, just saying it wears me out :) But seriously I
actually love every minute of it. Sometimes it gets more
than a little crazy but I wouldn't change any of it.
And I'm here to tell you that if somebody as busy as I am
can stay on schedule and design her ideal life, then so can
you.
So back to the original question - "How do you do it all?".
Well, my initial internal response to this question was 'I
don't know, you just do it'. But as I really started to
think about it . . . . I realized that over the years I've
developed and implemented various practices and systems in
order to make it all work.
The first of those principles:
1. Know You Priorities and Purpose - Know your top
priorities and purpose - what you are trying to accomplish
and why - and design your life around that.
In order to stick to a busy schedule we have to first know
what is most important to us, as well as why it's important
to us. We won't continue to do the daily mundane tasks that
get us to our long-term goals if we haven't first developed
a clear vision of what we want, why we want it, and what
steps we need to take, on a consistent basis, in order to
achieve it.
If we don't first create that picture, that visual, then we
are more likely to veer off course, wonder around lost and
frustrated, and waste precious time trying to figure out
where we are, what happened, and how to get back on track,
so that we are once again moving forward towards our goal.
Which IS what we want after all - to be moving forward.
I have designed a life that I love just by knowing and
living my top priorities.
So, how do you know what your top priorities are? It may
sound like a major undertaking to figure out, but if you'll
just stop and take a look at the big picture and ask
yourself the following questions it will be much easier to
get a grip on your vision for your future and what your
biggest priorities need to be to put yourself into that
picture.
So, what are the questions?
Q1 - A year from now, five years, 10 years, or when you're
old and gray and on your death bed what will you remember?
Q2 - What will you be remembered for?
Do you want to be known for parenting and raising happy,
productive human beings? Being a supportive, caring
spouse? Excelling in your chosen career? Living a life of
integrity that was an inspiration for others? Having a
spotless house? Being the top sales person in your
division?
What is truly important to you?
And be careful that you don't confuse what's important to
someone else with what is important to you.
Sometimes we think we want something simply because someone
else has it - good ol' keepin' up with the Jones', we
think we need a new car because a friend or neighbor got
one, and we don't want anyone to think that we can't keep
up. Or that we need a brand new outfit for an upcoming
event, because what will everyone think of you if you wear
the same outfit twice. Not only can this way of thinking
lead to financial difficulties and un-needed stress, but it
can set us up to believe that these are the things we value
most.
Other times we think we want something because someone else
wants it for us. If you grew up with a parent who always
talked about you becoming an attorney or doctor, you may
have developed the belief that that is your dream, even
though deep down inside something is telling you that this
isn't want you want. Pay heed to that little voice.
Sadly, I've watched friends get married to people they
didn't love, or graduate with a degree in a career field
that they hated because mom or dad had wanted it for them
for so long. How sad is that? And what an incredible waste
of time.
Don't fall into the trap of letting someone else lead you
around by THEIR dreams.
Figure out what is high on YOUR priorities list and then
focus on building your life around that.
The quicker you learn YOUR priorities and purpose, the
quicker you stop wasting time and start living the life YOU
truly desire. And when you are truly in line with what is
most important to you and have a thorough understanding of
why it means so much to you you'll find that all the rest
begins to fall into place much more easily.
And that's a very beautiful thing. Because who wants to
trudge through a life they hate? Or a life that they are
simply tolerating? That's not living, it's merely
existing. Life is too short to not live it the way you want
to.
Design your life.
Next week . . . Step 2 of How to Design Your Ideal Life.
Viki Stanley-Hutchison
Certified Life Coach
Life Transitions for Women
www.lifetransitionsforwomen.com
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