When the Colonist defeated the British, not everything went smoothly. There were still factions that never wanted to be free from British rule, there was no central government, there was no United States money, there was no way of funding the infrastructure, and so much more. The Constitution had to be written and agreed to. Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and his best friend, James Madison wrote the Constitution. The Constitution established a way of living life, doing business, and organizing operations after the victory.
You get the awesome task of establishing your way of moving forward. What will be the guardrails that keep you on track and prevent serious harm? What will your system of checks and balances be? Who can you depend on to be your advisors? Are there things you can delegate? That might sound strange, but it really does work.
Here is a framework you can use to establish your own personal constitution.
1. State who you are and why you are doing this – just like James Madison did in the Preamble.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
2. The next part is how you will make your decisions and choices in life AND follow them. Think of this as the Legislative Branch of your life.
3. Management and action have to be determined next. The Executive Branch is to take care of the day-to-day functions and promote who you are in this new healthy framework.
4. Overseeing your decisions and living your life needs accountability. This part is how you check yourself and make sure you are living congruently. The Judicial Branch of your life balances your morals, philosophies, principles with your actions and behaviors. Having a close friend or spouse in this area can help a lot.
Is this overdone? I don’t think it is. This gives a method for you to live your life. It gives you intentionality to making it happen. Without clarity and vision, you are living by happenstance or accident.
Do you think that doing something like this would work for you? It will if you put the energy and effort into it and actually follow it. While I broke these seven steps down in a week for you, the reality is that it can take a month or more to do it right. Furthermore, you must revisit these notions and ideas regularly and make sure that life or your circumstances haven’t changed.