May we all have a vision now and then

Hoping you get my title reference. If not (and even if so), I recommend a liberal dose of Super Trouper, stat.

I can always find a solid take-home message in BYU Mag. This may be mundane but work with me here on the article "The Long View of Leaders" as I apply it to family life. Remember how I've blogged about The Happiness Project like...16 times? I just really like it, OK? Here is a happiness project of sorts. And what a happy coincidence that I am just now, at the new year, finding this quote again, which I copied down a few months ago.

"A second approach to leading an organization begins by the leader establishing a limited number of overarching goals and objectives. These goals serve as the prism through which every problem or challenge is viewed. What drives the decision-making process is the question: In deciding this issue, what path will take us furthest in the direction of achieving our overarching goal? Such decisions constitute a strategy in which the focus of attention is not on solving problems but on achieving a major goal.

"...Goal-oriented leadership causes leaders to view the decisions they make as part of a tapestry they are determinedly weaving. This approach is decidedly proactive rather than reactive.

"...It is a style of leadership that is both patient and determined. The view it seeks is long-term and is animated by specific goals. ...Great leaders have an ability to focus not merely their attention but also the attention of those they lead on a limited number of goals and objectives. They are not diverted by the seemingly urgent.

"That advice is easy to articulate but difficult to follow. ...Great leaders do not allow themselves the luxury of dissipating their time, energy, or capital."

Roger B. Porter

I read the whole article thinking of how I could apply it to myself as a homemaker. I'm excited to set a handful of "Big Goals" to construct a framework around our everyday life. How much better would I feel about my efforts if I knew I were deliberately leading my family (and myself) toward these goals with every move? I like that it doesn't turn into a checklist of New Year's Resolutions that turn into failures if they don't happen. When the goal is long-term and more or less abstract, the steps to get there may be two steps forward here, a step back there, and over and over. 

Maybe if I look at my challenges and chores as steps toward reaching a specific goal instead of as the goals themselves, it will be a little more realistic to remain cheerful under stress; to let go of undone jobs and go to bed early; to focus on a needy child when it's inconvenient for me; to be silly with my kids; to say "yes"; to say "no"; to serve Matt; to forgive and forget; to vacuum; to do the dishes; to wake up early and exercise; to eat less sugar; to do a million more things. Or a million fewer things. 

1 - Peace

2 - Close Relationships 

3 - A Functional Home

4 - A Healthy Body

--all things I want. I have gathered that my life is not going to get easier and I am going to continue to mess up. But maybe I can reach and more or less maintain a handful of big goals, even if it does take the rest of my life. Maybe! I guess I'll work on today for now!

On a related note, several months ago I read the post On Dreams and Being Deliberate at Barefoot in the Kitchen and it stuck with me. I sat down and made my own list of what my "dream life" would look like. I'm happy to say I scan the list now and again and I am working toward that dream life. It seems so obvious but isn't always, that you should think about what you really want to do and then do it. I also made a list of things I love about my house and things that bother me, and worked on fixing the things that bothered me, and I have never loved my house more.

Working on things around the house is a lot easier than working on the things that bother me about myself, but I am working on that too.