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2) How to Draft Your Vision of Home

There are definitely elements which must be covered, but the form of this document can be totally driven by your style; a one-page list of bullet points works for one house hunter, while another might want to journal an epic 10 page narrative. Whatever works! You just need to get started. Here's how.

Think of your life as a little ecology, or pattern of interaction between an organism (i.e., you) and your environment (i.e., the people, places and things that populate your life). Every element is inextricably intertwined with every other element. To get a visual, think of those junior-high school food chain charts -- if one fungus in the remote reaches of the Himalayas dies off, the price of Vanity Fair magazine goes up, through some intricate relationship involving the sun and herbivores in South America. Similarly, if you tweak one element of your Vision, the rest will change. For example, let's say that right now you are single, no kids, and are able to support your lifestyle working as a freelance graphic designer, and you have a vision of continuing to be able to do that. So you don't have to go work for a firm, you might incorporate the following elements into your Vision:

• Generating X number of additional projects per month, and working the extra hours to complete them (or implementing a referral generating system or otherwise increasing your profitability);


• Keeping your mortgage payment under X number of dollars a month (vs. the Y number of dollars you could afford if you went to work for a firm);


• Living in a smaller condo, a TIC (tenancy in common) or having a roommate or tenant;


• Working mornings in your functional home office area, then walking to your favorite Wi-Fi coffee spot or library, in the afternoons;


• Having a preference for homes with CAT-5 wiring, DSL availability and updated electrical systems (to protect your equipment from sparks and surges);


• Living within driving distance of your parents or friends or favorite social haunts, so you don't have to spend a lot to visit;


• Walking to your yoga studio on Wednesday afternoons and driving a few minutes to Whole Foods to pick up lots of ready-to-eat stuff every other week;


• Meeting your book club at your favorite downtown bookstore, a short drive away;


• Pulling your car into a secure garage after you get home from visiting your parents, the rock climbing gym and your book club -- I think you get the idea.

If you had changed your work, you can imagine how things would change -- preferred locations would be driven more by your workplace than your leisure activities. If you had children, things would shift again -- bigger space and income needs, maybe more cooking and more demands for your kitchen and eating areas, probably less time to walk to yoga, etc. Widen your thoughts beyond just the number of bedrooms and bathrooms you need to things about your house -- and your lifestyle -- that don't come immediately to mind. Craft a vision of your lifestyle, and from that we'll back into the specs of your house in a manner that is much more likely to see you happy a year or two down the road.

Now, if you have a need to share your Vision with someone, and there is no one in your life you can count on to support it, you need to trade up. Start flushing as many toxic people out of your life as possible and simply maintain your commitment and intention. Soon enough, your energy will attract similarly positively oriented people into your life.

3) An Eco-Friendly Vision

Like your favorite foods, your vision of home should be:

• Organic -- it should grow naturally out of and be consistent with your personal values, life philosophy, life plan;


• Holistic -- it must take account of all areas of your life; and


• Sustainable -- you include a savings and emergency resource strategy which will allow it, and you, to survive a job change, a couple of months without work, a car breakdown, etc.

<< Why do you need a Vision of Home? I How to nourish and protect your vision >>