Create a Vision for Your Life

Do you want to live a more meaningful life? Do you want a bit more excitement in your life? If so, then it’s time to create a vision for your life ad your family.

Hi! My name is Jackie and I’d like to share my story about how I’ve overcome some of the challenges I’ve had in my own life and how creating a vision and having purpose in my life has made all the difference.

Maybe you can use some of the lessons I’ve learned to help you and your family live with more purpose and vision too.

Listen to the HomeSchool ThinkTank Parenting Podcast

Hello! My name is Jackie and I’m the Host of the HomeSchool ThinkTank Parenting Podcast. You can listen to this podcast episode about creating a vision for your life here, on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Listen to our podcast nearly anywhere. Look for Episode #139. If you want to improve your life or your family’s life in any way, I believe that this episode about how to create your vision will be helpful.

Learn more about the HomeSchool ThinkTank Parenting Podcast.

Evaluating the Past & Present

The first step to create a vision for your life is to evaluate the past. You’ll want to consider how your past is impacting where you are today.

How did you get to the present moment? As you go through this exercise, don’t judge yourself. Simply take note about the circumstances of your life and the choices you’ve made to get to where you are.

To help you understand where I’m coming from, I’m going to share some of my life and the lessons I’ve learned with you.

An Overwhelmed Mom

Around 2017, I was feeling absolutely overwhelmed. I was busy all of the time, doing all the mom things. As a result of being too busy and running around so much, I was actually a bit crabby and not overly pleasant to be with.

While I was very busy doing things, I was simultaneously bored out of my mind. I was doing the same things week in and week out. Running the kids around, getting groceries, cooking dinner, and cleaning the house. In essence I was busy physically, but I was bored out of my mind. Everything was about the kids, but I wasn’t doing anything that was mentally stimulating for me.

While I can reflect and see this now, I couldn’t see it then. In fact, I basically stumbled upon this realization. While I stumbled upon how to create vision for my life, you can apply the lessons I’ve learned and create a vision for your life with intention.

I’ll share the lessons shortly, but let’s proceed with a bit more of my story.

Creating a Vision for Your Life

Click Play & Listen to this Podcast Episode

Deciding to Write a Book

Toward the end of 2017, I decided that I was going to write a book. My purpose was to learn to publish so that I could help my teenage daughter publish a book when she was ready.

At the time, my daughter was 14. She had been writing daily for several years and it was evident that she would want to publish someday. As a result, I decided to write a book so that I could learn how to self-publish and market a book.

My goal was to learn how to write, market, and self-publish a book so that I could help my daughter when she was ready to publish. While I wanted to be ready to help my daughter, I didn’t want to learn on the book that she had been working for years on.

Self-Publishing a Book

The first day I sat down to write, I made a list of topics that I could write about. My goal was to learn to self-publish, not to be the world’s best writer. My list included things from organizing, to camping, to homeschooling. After two days of brainstorming, I finally thought, I know a lot about homeschooling, I’ll write about that.

As I began thinking about and writing about homeschooling, I began to reflect on my own years of homeschooling my children. While homeschooling had been great in many ways, I began to realize that I’d had a lot of challenges.

As a result of thinking about and reflecting on my own experiences, I began to come up with solutions to my problems. At some point, I realized that I probably wasn’t alone in my struggles. Certainly other parents had challenges similar to mine?

This is how HomeSchool ThinkTank was born. I recogniced problems that I had faced as a homeschooling parent. I started coming up with solutions to these problems. However, I would have never done this without reflecting on the past.

Living a Life with Meaning & Purpose

Writing a book and starting HomeSchool ThinkTank lit me on fire.

While raising my children and caring for my family gives me a great sense of purpose, I had never done something with the intention of helping people in a way that reached well beyond my own family and friends. T

hrough HomeSchool ThinkTank, I have found my life’s purpose. I intend to serve homeschooling families for decades to come.

Lessons You Can Apply to Create a Vision for Your Life

I have tried to present these lessons with a sense of order. However, the reality is that they intertwine with one another. In fact, you don’t even have to do each lesson in order. Just choose one lesson and get started. By taking the first step, the lessons that you need to learn will unfold with each proceeding step.

• Write & Reflect. Write and reflect upon your thoughts. Writing or journaling is the equivalent of listening to yourself. You’ll begin to examine the contents of your own soul. Take notes on your thoughts like a college student takes notes when listening to a professor.
• Have a Goal. Your goal can be to do something that is truly for you or it can be a goal that serves others.
• Focus Your Life. Focus on a project that matters to you. I wanted to learn to self-publish so that I could someday help my daughter with this process. I was also focusing on challenges that I had and ways to solve those problems. While I started focusing on a paragraph at a time, now my entire life is more focused.
• Find a Purpose that has Positive Impact on You & Your Family. My original mission was to help my daughter. As a result of my efforts, I am ready to fulfill that mission when she is ready to publish. I am now capable of helping my children in far greater ways than I ever could have imagined.

Extend Your Purpose Beyond Your Own Family

Not only am I helping my own kids, but I am now reaching homeschooling parents around the world each week through the HomeSchool ThinkTank Parenting Podcast. I never dreamed that I would have such impact. To say the least, I am humbled and astonished that so many people listen to each episode.

While your purpose may or may not begin with your own children, I believe that reaching beyond your own circle of family of friends should become part of your purpose. Relationships are what make life meaningful and new relationships will help you grow.

My Vision Board

I created this vision board in 2019. In addition to my personal vision board, I also created a separate one for HomeSchool ThinkTank. I have a notebook with much more specific goals. While I love the two vision boards I created in a few years ago and look at them daily, I plan to create much more specific vision boards relatively soon.

Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

I believe that in our minds, we are either growing or dying. The way to growth is to get uncomfortable. In 2017, when I was grumpy and unpleasant, I was way too comfortable. There wasn’t much that felt new or exciting.

When I decided to write a book, I was WAY out of my comfort zone. I was so out of my comfort zone that I didn’t tell anyone beyond my husband and children that I was writing a book for months!

When I was dreaming of HomeSchool ThinkTank, I remember sitting in the car with my mom and sister. I was nearly whispering this idea that I had. It felt audacious to have such big dreams.

Who was I to think I could do this? I was a former physical education teacher. A stay-at-home mom who lived in the country and homeschooled her kids. I was just beyond a flip phone, barely had internet service, and rarely Googled anything.

Yes, I was WAY out of my comfort zone. HomeSchool ThinkTank lit me on fire!

You MUST get out of your comfort zone to grow!

This Girl is On Fire!

Yep…A Girl On Fire by Alicia Keys is one of my theme songs!

You can hear one of my other theme songs in this blog post.

Become a Problem-Solver

It feels good to solve problems. In my opinion, when you have a problem you can do one of three things.

1. Nothing. If you do this, the problem will likely get worse.
2. Gripe. Most of us vent from time to time. However, griping doesn’t do any good at all. If you gossip about people, you’ll probably make the problem worse. Drama anyone?!?!
3. Solve the Problem. When you take time to think, write, and reflect then you can begin coming up with ideas to solve your problems.

Help Others to Feel a Sense of Purpose

If you can solve problems, then you can help others.

Acknowledge the challenges in your own life, create solutions, and share those solutions with others. This will give you a sense of purpose.

Helping others in a way that feels important to you is called purpose. We all need to feel a sense of purpose in our lives. This is what makes life worth living.

I believe that our children give us a natural sense of purpose. I also think that for parents of children and teens, one of the best ways to help others it by combining that with helping your own children. When you are helping your own children while you also help others, you can’t help but feel incredibly fulfilled.

More Lessons to Help You Create a Vision for Yourself

• Believe In Yourself. You must believe in yourself more than anyone else believes in you. If you don’t believe in yourself, then you won’t inspire confidence in others.
• Discover Excitement! How do you feel excited? You do something that is out of your comfort zone! Do something different! Go to a new place, do something new.
• Sustain Excitement with Vision & Purpose. I think I have been able to sustain excitement with HomeSchool ThinkTank because I have a strong sense of purpose. In the beginning, the excitement was thrilling to me like bungee jumping might be to others. Now, the excitement is still there even though it’s quieter while I persevere through the growing pains of a young company. I have excitement because I can envision what’s on the other side of the hard work that comes with starting an organization.
• Grit & Perseverance It’s one thing to create a vision on paper. It’s an entirely different thing to create your vision knowing that you will make it happen. You might not always know how to achieve your vision, but if you know where you’re going and you persist, then you will eventually get there.

Intentional & Purposeful Education

As a result of founding HomeSchool ThinkTank, I have been on a consistent and steady pursuit to educate myself so that I can run this organization and serve homeschooling families better. My education has not only helped me run HomeSchool ThinkTank better, but it has helped me in my personal life as well.

When you intentionally educate yourself, you will also begin to improve your life.

Not sure what to learn? Then consider learning about one of the following things.

• Anything that interests you.
• Whatever creates the most stress in your life.
• An instrument.
• Try a new physical activity. Try dancing, rock climbing, yoga, or something else.
• Landscape an area of your yard.
• Learn how to decorate a room.
• Oh yeah! Learn about homeschooling your kids too!

Make a Decision

Just make a decision already! For the most part, I can make a decision quickly and move forward. However, I have had a couple of problems that I didn’t know how to handle. In the end, it’s best to make a decision and move forward.

But is it the right decision? Maybe or maybe not. Either way, you’ll get feedback more quickly by DOING SOMETHING.

Did you make the wrong decision? Correct and move forward.

By making a decision and proceeding, you’ll get the feedback you need and can proceed accordingly.

Be an Action Taker to Create Your Vision

Do something! While you can think, read, and learn all day long, you’ll never create your vision if you don’t take action. Take action and start implementing your ideas. You just have to have an idea of where you’re going and get started. Your vision will become more clear as you take action.

Perfection or Procrastination???

Get to good enough and go. You don’t have to do anything perfectly. Perfectionism is really procrastination disguised. Believe me, I know! When I am perfecting, then I am procrastinating.

Stop Procrastinating

I believe that procrastination is either avoidance or fear. When I procrastinate, then either I don’t know how to do something or I feel some form of fear.

Why did I procrastinate on starting my podcast? I didn’t know how to do it and I was worried about embarrassing myself.

At some point, I figured it out. Yes, I put out some terrible podcast episodes. Now, I’m either removing them or improving them. I was scared to ask for the interview, but I finally did. Then, I had some very good guests but I was terrible at interviewing. Guess what? I’m well past the 100 podcast episode mark and I’m still improving. However, if I would have kept procrastinating, I wouldn’t be improving or helping anyone at all.

Stop procrastinating and do something – anything – that will help you move forward with intention.

Start Creating Your Vision Now!

You’ll learn more by getting started with your imperfect ideas. Do something, reflect, and revise. This is the cycle of learning and creating your vision!

Creating your vision has 3 steps that you will repeat over and over and over and over…

1. Take action.
2. Reflect.
3. Revise.

Dream Big!

Until I started HomeSchool ThinkTank, I had no idea how small I kept my dreams. Now, I have big audacious dreams. Sometimes they are so big that I don’t want to tell anyone about them. Aren’t those big dreams pipe-dreams?

Nobody else has to believe in your dream but you. I believe that if you think you can do something, that you probably can.

I also believe that the more you talk about your dreams, the more likely they are to happen. Go ahead and speak your dreams into reality.

Join Our Coaching Program for Homeschool Parents!

Do you want to meet other homeschooling parents who are growth-minded?

Our coaching program helps you focus on taking care of yourself, not only for you but for your family too! Staying connected with YOURSELF and taking care of YOURSELF is a vital part of caring for your family.

We focus on caring for you, connecting with your kids, building community, and education.

When you join our waiting list, we’ll let you know when enrollment opens up again. It’s happening soon!

More Podcast Episodes & Articles for You

• Discover our mindset series on the HSTT Parenting Podcast!
• Find more resources on our blog.
• Learn how you can help your teenager discover their purpose.

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