Welcome to the How to Create a Family Life You Love series! This five-part series is going to help you reduce the overwhelm and eliminate the unessential. It’s going to help you take back control and create a life you don’t want to take a vacation from. I’m going to share with you lots of small and easy-to-follow steps you can take right now to make your family life a little bit less stressful and a whole lot more enjoyable. Follow the steps and you’ll be well on your way to living a family life you love before you know it!

The series lays the foundation for every other blog post that follows so it’s a great place to start if you’re new to the A Simple and Contented Life blog. This post is part two and all about the three questions to ask yourself BEFORE making changes to your life. Are you ready to find out what they are?! Let’s get started!

Part Two: Three Questions to Ask Yourself BEFORE Making Changes to Your Life

In the first post of this series I talked about the three areas of your life you need to focus on if you want to make a change for the better (you can read it here). Those areas were your family, your home and yourself. I explained that if you invest your time, focusing on what really matters and eliminating frustrations where you can, a happier life IS possible.

Before you start switching things up though, there are a few things to consider. It’s easy to just start changing parts of your life for the sake of it in the hope it’ll make a difference. But if you really want to see a change for the better, there are three questions to ask yourself BEFORE doing anything:

Question 1: WHY do you want to change things?

It’s all very well wanting to do something about your situation but why is it you want to change things? There’s no point switching things up if you don’t know why you’re doing it in the first place! What’s prompting your need for a change? Knowing your ‘why’ makes it so much easier to pinpoint the areas that need your attention the most. So what is your ‘why’? Ask yourself:

• What is it about my life that leaves me feeling frazzled, exhausted and overwhelmed?
• What areas of my life frustrate me the most? Why?
• Why do I feel like I’m stuck in a rut?
• What differences do I hope to bring about by changing things up?

Maybe you just want life to be a little less stressful. Perhaps you wish you had more time to spend with your family. Or maybe you know you need to take better care of yourself. Understanding the answers to these questions allows you to see what areas of your life you want to improve and why. Understand this and you’ll be better positioned to make changes. Not just any changes though – the right changes. Which brings us on to the next question:

Question 2: WHAT do you want to change?

Now you’ve established your ‘why’ you need to work out exactly what needs changing in order for your life to improve. Look at your answers to question one. What can be done about them? How can you improve things? Ask yourself:

• What is working?
• What isn’t working?
• How can I make things better?

Identify what it is you don’t like and how you’d like to change it. Maybe your house is always in a mess and you need more storage. Maybe you work really long hours and want to cut them back so you can see your family more. Perhaps you’re always late paying the bills and know you need to be more organised. Maybe you’re tired all the time and know you need some earlier nights. Or maybe you need to start meal planning so that dinner times aren’t so stressful. Whatever your frustrations, make a list of all the things you could do to start improving that part of your life right now.

Question 3: Are the changes realistic?

Once you’re happy with what you’ve written, it’s time to review your list. Question whether the changes you’ve written down are actually achievable. What do you need to do to make them happen? Do they require:

• Time?
• Money?
• Additional resources?
• Support from your spouse or family?

Whatever the changes you want to make are, make sure they’re realistic. Make sure they’re easy to implement and that you’ll reap the benefits without too much stress or hassle. If they’re not don’t despair. Simply revisit your list and ask yourself if there’s an easier way.

What’s next?

Congratulations! You’ve identified what’s prompting your need to switch things up. You know what needs to change and you’ve made sure the action you want to take is possible. Now you need a plan! Start with the area you want to work on the most. Establish what you need to do and pick something simple you can action right away. Don’t worry if you feel a little nervous or overwhelmed. Change can be scary and it doesn’t happen overnight. So start small and build up. Once you’ve gained momentum and got used to the changes happening, it will become easier to implement new ones.

Don’t forget that happiness is a journey, not a destination. Like Lily Tomlin says; “the road to success is always under construction” – so just enjoy the ride. Be confident that change is possible and if at any time you start to lose your focus, just remember the three questions to ask yourself:

1. WHY do you want to change things?
2. WHAT do you want to change?
3. Are the changes realistic?

That’s it for part two. The next post is where things really start to get interesting. We’ll be diving into the meat of this series and looking at how you can start making family life a lot more enjoyable. I can’t wait to see you there! In the meantime don’t forget to download the FREE workbook that accompanies this series so you can start taking action right away.

Want more?

If you’ve enjoyed reading this make sure you check out the rest of the posts in the series too. Let’s kick-start creating a family life you love right now!

• Part One: How to Love Your Life
• Part Two: Three Questions to Ask Yourself BEFORE Making Changes to Your Life
• Part Three: Four Ways to Live a Happier Family Life
• Part Four: Five Ways to Love the Home You Live In
• Part Five: How to Take Better Care of Yourself

Have you found this useful? What’s your biggest takeaway? What one thing have you come up with to action right now? Let me know in the comments below!

Until next time…

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