Mono-tasking your makeover: What one thing do you want most from life?

Recently, one of my friends who is pretty much in the dictionary under "goal oriented," told me she's going to ease up a little on her life to do list. For someone who is ambitiously over-scheduled, it seemed like the most brilliant thing I'd ever heard. Duh: if you've spent years trying to completely overhaul your love life, body, and career, at some point, you will hit a wall. You will need to lie in the dark and watch hours of reality television and eat barbecue spareribs. You will be burned out.

We're a country of multi-taskers, but if there were ever a time to make things simple, it's during the summer. My brain barely works during crazy heat and humidity. It's like nature itself is pleading with us to take stock of the craziness that is daily life and see if it's really working. Was there ever a better time to focus on the one thing you really want?

I've been thinking lately about the conceit of making over our lives. It's so tempting to do it all at once, to go full throttle at every single area, hoping by week's end our living room has turned into something from House Beautiful, the CEO thinks we're brilliant, and our thighs rival Serena Williams's. But crikey, it's just too much. It's overload for one woman who also wants to somehow manage to find some peace and meaning in each day.

We still need to keep things running. We still need toilet paper and olive oil and deodorant. But that nagging feeling that hovers over us in daily life, that voice that wants more and better: more love, better health, more creativity, better home decor. That voice that seems to think everything in our lives can be put in shipshape all at one? That voice needs to be put in check.

So if we were to step back, to do one thing at a time like they did in Ye Olden Tyme ("monotasking" the modern experts call it) what would you focus on?

What do you want most from life?

* A beautiful home. I want to make it a sanctuary away from the stress of the world.
* A great love life. It's like the Beatles said: All you need is love.
* A better job. I want to find a job that's not quite so soul-crushing/stressful/meaningless.
* A healthy body. I pretty much agree with Jillian Michaels: this is the foundation on which the rest of your life rests.
* A rich spiritual life. I've lost touch with my values and the higher meaning of life.
* Creative fulfillment. I want to write novels, paint watercolors, and feel a sense of wonder and fun. That's when I feel most alive.
* Financial security. I need this piece to be in place in order to appreciate everything else in my life.
* Emotional well-being. I like thinking about who I am, what's important to me, what makes me happy.
* A great family life. I want to have kids, or if I already have them, I want to create the most meaningful, joyful, supportive family life possible.
* Something else, and I'll tell you in the comments.