Choosing a hero’s journey as my parenting strategy changes everything. I don’t have to be an expert, a psychologist or a super mom.

I just have to say yes to the adventure each day, seek mentors and guides, face the ordeals as they come with courage and get back up when I fail.

And I must remember that a true hero’s journey is about two things: self-discovery and experiencing what it means to be fully alive.

This is a radical shift in parenting techniques which most often focus on how to get your children to be or do certain things. On this road of heroic parenting, I realize it is I who must be transformed. This personal transformation is what will free my children to be who they were meant to be as well. So really I get two treasures at the end – one for me and one for them.

Lesson #2: Heroic parents write a family plan and schedule regular family meetings. They live with a sense of thriving. Ordinary parents are stuck in the “busyness” of life and feel live with the sense of barely surviving.

This is not complicated. And it will be one of the most important things you do together. Your life will change in measurable ways when you define these things: who you are as a family, what is most important in your family life right now and how you can better support each individual’s personal goals.

If you don’t have a working family plan, why not take the Nike approach and just do it? You will not regret it.

Further resources: Search my blog with the words “family plan” and you’ll get more “how to” posts. Also, read The Three Questions for the Frantic Family by Patrick Lencioni.