Life Goals : Are you living your Perfect Life?

Clearly defined life goals help you uncover what’s important to you

I think a lot about decorating and how we live in our homes and the reasons why we make the lifestyle choices we make.  I’m a firm believer that your home should support your life goals. Why do I ruminate on this? Well, first off to make sure I don’t fall into a rut and get stuck. 

Reality – I do get stuck a lot.  I’m sure you do too.

Is your home sabotaging you or supporting your life goals?

Sometimes it’s in the way I think about something.  Sometimes it’s because my home isn’t working right for me.  Really – it feels like it’s sabotaging me. There are day that I just can’t find something or I have to dig through closets or boxes or my computer files to find the thing I’m looking for, and I realize just how long it takes.  It’s frustrating.  I know you know what I mean. 

Then, there are days when all that clutter (physical, computer, thoughts, work issues, decisions) bogs me down so I struggle to see the big picture. While I can’t help with the thinking part – there are other experts out there who can help with that, I can help you with is the physical part – the way in which a home supports you – functionally as well as aesthetically. 

Hang on – you’re an Interior Decorator. Why are you so focused on the functional part?  Shouldn’t you be talking about the newest paint colour, the latest flooring, or countertops?

Sure – I am absolutely all about helping you choose the right colours, furniture, flooring, countertops, cabinetry, lighting, window treatments, and the list goes on….

How do you want to live in your home?

You see you won’t be satisfied with a new look if you haven’t truly examined how you want to live in your home.  What would your perfect lifestyle be? How would that support your dreams, ambitions, goals for your life? How can your home support your life goals? Once you have that sorted out and are clear you can start working through your home, room by room, to ensure that it is set up in a way that will support, not sabotage you.

Like you, I’m a work in progress.  And I’m sure I’m going to be forever…

In my quest to create a life worth living I’ve stumbled on a process that I want to share as I think you might find it useful.

Create a Life that you Design

As I work through thinking about this I will, of course, share information on the latest trends, great tips on window coverings, and cover the latest update on new paint colours. But I also want to dive deeper and look into this concept of creating a life by design. A life by design is a life worth living because it’s a life you have consciously created. To sum it up a life by design is one that supports you both in the everyday routine as well as emotionally.

^{“A LIFE BY DESIGN IS A LIFE WORTH LIVING BECAUSE IT’S A LIFE YOU HAVE CONSCIOUSLY CREATED”}

Please join me in my journey….

Initial Steps

The first step in this journey is to look closely at your home regardless of it’s size be it a castle or a room.  How does it function well for you?  Here’s a series of questions to help you figure out where the ruts and potholes are in your space.

Grab a cup of coffee and sit down and think about your life goals – what do you really want?  How do you really want to live?  What steps could you take to start that process along? How can you use your goals to help you create the lifestyle – the way you want to live your life?

Again, I’ve got a series of questions to help you with that process.

Rule # 1 – there are no right or wrong answers

First of all, there is no right or wrong answers.  Because they are your answers. They are unique to you. You don’t have to share these with anyone. They are meant to help you clarify what’s important to you.

What do I mean when I talk about Life goals?

Remember I said in the beginning that your home should support your life goals? Once you are have a clear picture of what you want you can eliminate all the things that currently don’t work for you in your home.

So what do I mean when I talk about lifestyle? It’s your goals, ambitions, desires. It’s the way you choose to live your life. 

Are you focusing on things that will make you truly happy or are you living someone else’s version of the perfect lifestyle?  Do you find yourself spending time with people you want to spend time with or because you have to?  Is the work you are doing satisfying or does it just pay the bills?  When you pictured your life as a child was it anywhere close to where it is now?  Is that good or bad?   What changes do you need to make to make it more authentically yours?

If you live with other people in your family then you will want them to think about what’s important to them as well so that you can tailor your home to fit everyone.  Who knows, maybe something they would love to do is something everyone would benefit from.

Questionnaire – what are your life goals?

LIFE

• What do I really want out of life?
• Do you have enough time to enjoy your life?
• Do you have too much time?
• Are you following your passion?  If not, why not?
• What were some of the most memorable days or events of your life?  How can you keep that spirit going throughout your current life?
• Are you learning enough?  Are there any topics you’d like to learn more about? Any degree or certificate programs you would like to take?
• If you are religious or spiritual are you spending enough quality time thinking or working on your religion or spirituality?
• How important is your appearance to you? 

HOME

• Do you need a room for your clothes or a would a cupboard be enough?
• What are your favorite things to drink?  Do you have space for them in your home?  Bar cart or coffee station? Or both?
• Do you feel that you life is organized and you are in control ?  If not, check out these posts on home organization
• When you look in your pantry is it stocked with food you like, or food someone else in your household likes?  Are the meals you plan and make ones you want to eat?
• As you open your closet do you find yourself struggling to find something that you like to wear, in a color or style that you like?
• What style or brand of clothes do you want to be wearing?
• Is the furniture in your home furniture that you like or that you could afford at the time?  Or was it someone else’s and you feel you can’t part with it.  (Getting rid of furniture is often harder than getting rid of anything else, especially if it belonged to someone in the family first.)

WORK

• Do you have great colleagues and meaningful work – if not could you consider changing companies?
• Do you need a desk and cabinet for storing your work and home paperwork?
• Physical space in your home– is there enough of it?  Do you need a space for yourself?  Not just for work but for yourself and your activities
• Do you like your work?  If not, can you consider a job change?

FAMILY

• Are you spending enough time with friends and family?
• Are there activities you could add to be able to spend more quality time with family members?

HEALTH

• Are you getting the exercise you need?  Is it exercise you like to do?  Would another form of exercise excite you more?
• Do you have enough time to spend in nature?
• Is your health good?  What could you do to improve it?
• Do you have enough opportunities to relax? 

FREE TIME

• Time for hobbies?
• How much do you want to travel?  To where? How?
• Are you taking enough time out so that you can relax?
• Do you like to read as a way to relax?

Your results: Life Goals

Now you may not have all of this at this time – that’s ok. Thinking about an authentic perfect lifestyle is something to work towards.  But like a ship needing direction, knowing what you do want will help focus your attention to your goal of living more authentically for you.

Dig deep. Once you’ve thought about your perfect lifestyle, and you’ve evaluated your current way of living, you’ll see that some of the things or people or habits you’ve accumulated along the way no longer work in your life.  So how can you make sure your home supports your desired life goals? I’ve been thinking about decluttering and the reasons why we collect and purchase things and I’ll be sharing some of those thoughts and tips with you.

Vision

Ok, so now you’re on the right track. You’ve got the beginnings of a vision for how you want to live your life. Let’s look at the things you need to eliminate or focus on that will support you in your new life. 

Wohee – exciting! 

Oh, hang on – you’re not quite there? Don’t worry, it’s a long process so take your time. Think about your desires but in the same vein, also sort out what you don’t want or what doesn’t work in your life.

Your home should support you and your life goals

Let’s move on and create the home that will support you in succeeding in your new life.  That’s where my skills and expertise as a decorator come in.  Helping you create something special – a home that supports and cherishes and renews you while of course, being aesthetically pleasing.  I know, it’s a tall order but I rise to the challenge!

So, where do you go from here? I recommend reading about how emotions relating to the items we own may be holding you back. You can find it here.

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