Getting Outside Our Four Walls

How To Interact With Intention?

Caring For How We Interact – Part 1

Interacting with others is something that happens whether we want to or not, so why not set up guidelines for your family. What do I mean by this? Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll share things like how we interact with each other, how we as a nuclear-family (not gone nuclear family, but main family), interact with other family members, and the people we know. Being prepared for interacting with people builds confidence and a soft-skill that’s invaluable when accomplishing great things in life. In this set of messages, we’re going to discuss family get-togethers and vacations.

Do you and your family like to vacation? Sure you do. But, do you vacation well? Does travel create unnecessary burdens for you?

“But those who won’t care for their relatives have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers.” – bible.com/116/1ti.5.8.nlt

The Thought or Concept:
There have  been many times when we vacation that we couldn’t take advantage of certain experiences. We just didn’t have the money. There were times we couldn’t eat at nice restaurants and had to settle for eating in. I thought it had to do with our income or the bills we had. Maybe it was the timing that threw off our funds. To my surprise and possibly yours, it was none of these. The problem was, is, and always will be, the lack of a well defined plan.

Several years ago, Pamela and I decided we wanted to vacation and vacation well. Here’s what that means. We wanted to go on vacation and enjoy ourselves. We didn’t want to face paying for a vacation when we returned. We wanted to take several vacations, vacations of our choosing. So you might be thinking,  how can you do this? And how can you do this with others? By the way, there’s a saying that you can’t pick your family, but I say you can pick the family you want to vacation with and how you can do it well. Keep that thought in mind.

The Practice:
If you want to vacation like the dreams you have in your head, then you need to plan. If you desire to succeed in the area of vacationing you need a plan. Said another way, if you wish to vacation like no one else, then you need a plan unlike anyone else. Let me introduce you to this next section of our family plan called, “Caring For How We Interact.”

Our strategy consists of the following:

• Planning your getaway.
  You first need to know a few things. How many trips do you want to have? What type of vacationing would you like to do? Where on earth will you travel? What does it take to travel like you want to travel? 
• Funding your vacation.
  You next need to know how you can pay for what’s planned. Sometimes your money might not match the idea you have in mind for your travels. So you’ll need a plan for that as well. Figure out based on your plans, how much it will cost and how you will save or pay for it. You have to make a budget item for that or at least have a plan for how you will obtain your vacation fund. We’ll discuss how we manage ours, later.
• Document the event.
  I know the action word “document” sounds like there’s work to do and takes away from vacationing. This documenting action is there so that your vacation doesn’t end when you return home. You see, documenting helps you with the “making memories” process. It’s these memories that you can keep with you for a lifetime. When you capture your vacation with lots of pictures, the vacation can live long beyond the actual event. In fact, the memories are often better than the experience. Find the best way to capture your memories.
• Lessons learned.
  When you return, take advantage of what you’ve discovered and can use for future travels. This is one of my favorite activities because it’s not just the post-work for one vacation; it’s the pre-work for your next vacation.  It’s the lessons we learn that make our next experience free of past bad experiences. 

Over these next several lessons, what we expect to see happen is that you begin to think of ways you can formulate a plan that you (and your main people) interact with the world around you. That world includes your extended family, friends, co-workers, and even neighbors for some people.

Today is Friday!

What plans are you making to ensure your interactions with others are what you and your nuclear-family intend? How will you fund your plans and how will you interact with the people in your world? Will having a record of your events mean more to you in years to come? If so, what are you doing to capture the memories you’ve made? Are there lessons to be learned from your last get together that can improve future get-togethers? How are you planning to make the special days special? In answering these questions you need a plan. It’s your life, your business, what happens in it is in your hands.

Question: What strategies do you have for interacting with the people in your world?

Thanks for visiting Kerry A. Clark & Co. whose sole goal is to help you in doing the business you call your life. Until next Friday, share this with your family.

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Our team has worked very hard putting it together. We designed it to help you and your family move the needle forward in making your life your business. Find out more about the Family plan here.