Success in life and family all comes down to consistency. If you make a habit of being consistent in the following areas you will most likely create a beautiful and satisfying life:
- ​Spending time with friends and family
- Exercising
- Resting and sleeping
- Eating nutrition-dense foods
- Learning and improving yourself
- Working efficiently
- Serving
- Saving and investing money
- Praying and studying spiritual matters
- Creating
- Playing and laughing
Jon and I recently read a wonderful book titled Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less written by Greg McKeown. Greg inspires us to get rid of all of the fluff in our lives and focus on what truly matters, the essentials. There are countless distractions today with all of the media and opportunities. We must make a conscious decision to focus on what is most important. Here is a great chart showing how an essentialist and a nonessentialist think and act:
So the big question is: How do you stay consistent? The answer is simple (not necessarily easy.) To be consistent we need a large HUGE dose of perspective. Parenting and homeschooling are a TON of hard work. If we focus on the big picture- that we are trying to create lasting happiness and lifetime connections with our family- we will have the vision to be consistent. Our vision of our life purpose will carry us. When I am tired of being consistent and doing monotonous chores it helps me to look at a quote that I have in several places around our home:
As parents we are helping to create the future. It may be disguised as a lot of frustrating, monotonous work at times, but we are doing the most important work on earth. Taking care of your health, your finances, and your relationships is essential to your happiness. Make the essential things in your life a priority by focusing on them consistently and letting other things slide off your schedule. Maybe you want to be like me and print off several copies of the above quote to put around your home. It has really helped me out on those tough days.
How do you stay consistent? Let us know in the comments below!