Horizon West Good Life Journey

Jessica Villegas - Community Contributor • January 22, 2024

Path to Clarity • Vision • Planning • Resources

Daily life brings about continuous, incremental change. These small day-to-day changes go unnoticed until they create a larger result or impact, like our children "suddenly" becoming the teen we no longer know, encountering a health issue that felt as if it came out of nowhere, or the loss of a loved one that seemed to be doing well. It's in these moments that we begin the instant replay – wishing we'd noticed sooner, made different choices, felt more prepared, or taken advantage of moments that we had when we had them. Perhaps we even vow to do better, live more intentionally, or spend time differently, but what happens to the execution of the follow through? Well, in all honesty, life happens... again. We get busy, tired, distracted, or maybe simply find it hard to integrate the changes sustainably. Maybe the goals feel bigger than they really are, we make excuses for not keeping up, or we move back into old habits. In an effort to push forward successfully, we have to ask ourselves, how can we make different decisions? How can we fold these things into our lives effectively in ways that help us stay on track toward our new intentions?

Create Clarity

Let's start with clarity in our values. A search of common values finds that integrity, compassion, accountability, honesty, courage, self-confidence, loyalty, kindness and sincerity top the list, but there are hundreds out there. When you can boil it down to just a few, you now have your decision-making sounding board.

Ask yourself: What is truly most important to you at your individual human core? What are the non-negotiables?

Develop Your Vision

Most of us have a dream, an ultimate life goal, or a vision for our life, but have you stopped to bring awareness to where you are headed vs. where you want to be headed?

Reflect on: Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years? What do you want retirement to look like? What do you see for the future of your family? What does your most fulfilling life look like?

Create a Plan

Set the goals that align with your plan. Consider what needs to happen, in reverse order, to achieve your vision. When you reverse engineer your goals, you may find that some daily choices are out of alignment to your values and your vision. This is where the real work needs to be done. This is where your daily mission comes into play. Are you ready to implement strategies that will make a big difference?

The Daily Mission

Your mission statement combines your values, your vision and your goals. It is a daily action plan of how you promise to show up for yourself, your future and those who your decisions directly impact. So if your plan is to retire wealthy and healthy, how do you need to show up today to make that happen for your future self? This allows you to live intentionally on a daily basis with a greater sense of purpose, fulfillment and accomplishment, which are huge boosters for mental health, self-esteem, confidence and overall happiness.

As you execute daily on your mission statement you are also folding in new habits and lifestyle changes.

Some questions that can be helpful in determining what you need through each phase could be: Who is in your support system? What is the first step you need to make? What resources do you need to help you? What is getting in your way each day? What small thing can you do today that will be sustainable and help you feel successful?

It doesn't always feel easy, but with intentional work to identify your values, set a clear vision, outline a daily plan of action and surround yourself with supportive people and services, anyone can put themselves on the path to enjoying their accomplishments in a new way!

In fact, moving to Horizon West very well may be a goal you have already met in creating the life you envision for your family. And now that you're here, there are many local resources to leverage to continue on your path to living a great life.