A few months ago, I decided to replace our wifi password frame with something more substantial. The frame sits right on our entryway table. I’d walk pass it daily, glance at the password, and think “why do I have this here? We rarely have guests. And if we do, it’s like 1-2 people max. They can just ask us this information. This is such a waste.”
This frame is in a prime location of our home. I should put something more important in it. Something I want my family to look at every day.
I decided, instead of the password, that I would start putting a quote in the frame. Something interesting that would make an impact on their lives, not a phrase they already know to access the fiber internet connection. I have a full list of snippets from the books or podcasts I’ve listened to saved in my notes online. In the past, I’ve shared some of this knowledge with my kids, but thought having a quote printed in the hallway for them to read each day would be impactful. Solidify the idea in their brains more.
That is how our Quote of the Month feature frame was born. I say “our Quote of the Month” frame…but really I think it’s just mine right now….
Over the past 4 months, I’ve chosen, printed and framed a quote I thought would be applicable to my family’s lives. The frame isn’t large, 5×7, so I’ve been selective in what words to include. I found a cute design on Canva and I repurpose it each month for the quote.
Month 1 went began. Put the quote up. The first few days went by. No one said anything. It was like they didn’t notice. But I’d walk by the quote and feel inspired. And also, a bit proud of myself. Like, hey look at me. I’m instilling such good thoughts into my family. Yay me! After days with no comment from my family, I started getting a little irked. Didn’t anyone look at that frame? It’s quite literally right in the middle of the house. Key traffic zone. It’s passed by multiple times a day by EVERYONE.
I asked around.
“Hey, did you notice I swapped out the wifi password frame? Something new’s in there?”
Family: oh, yeah? Oh…yes. Yes, we did.
Me: What do you think?
Family: it’s cool.
Ok…cool. I can work with that. At least they noticed. Maybe I was making a difference.
End of the month approaches. I prepare another quote and swap out for the old one. Afterwards, I decided to quiz my family a bit on the prior month’s message.
“Hey, new quote this month! Do you remember what last month’s was?”
Family: *crickets*
Family: something about imagination and ….???
Me (exasperated): It was “the best use of imagination is creativity. The worst use of imagination is anxiety. Stop letting your imagination create fear!”
It’s not like it was 3 paragraphs of droll or a chapter out of “The Power of Now” by Eckart Tolle (amazing book by the way…but HEAVY content.) No, it was just a few words…even played off Inside Out 2, a movie we had just seen at the time the quote was up. I thought that would help it stick even more.
Nope. But maybe now that they knew I was invested in this and would likely be asking about the quote again this month, surely they would read it and have a better recall for month 2. Right?!
Wrong.
Month 2 had the same reaction as month 1. And month 3. And month 4. I’m not asking for total recall here. I just wanted to know that they saw the quote and the essence of the message got through their thick skulls. But I was getting nowhere. Is my family proof that billboard marketing is dead?!
I had 3 options now.
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Continue on with the quote of the month, jaded and resigned to the fact that my family may or may not be impacted by this effort at all
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Stop this effort entirely. I’d be saving trees and ink and there are other things I could be doing with my time.
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Quiz these mf’ers and offer some sort of prize for whoever remembers the quote each month. Incentivize! Competition! This shit’s important!
Unwilling to give up just yet (my top strength according to VIA institute is perseverance after all) I chose to implement a Quote Quiz for the fam. For next month’s quote, I’m going to print it out and place it in the hallway frame. At the end of September, we will have a quiz. The person who recalls the quote will get a prize – to be determined. I have to come up with something that will incentivize all 3 family members who can currently read. Maybe a 10-minute massage from me? I don’t want to go broke rewarding these people for reading a quote that’s for their own good, but I do need something that they will want. Or maybe I can create a few prize selections and make it like a raffle. I dunno. I’ll come up with something.
I can’t promise this effort will last for the rest of their lives or become a tradition. I do go in spurts of doing shit like this. Some things stick and some don’t. I do want my fam to have a growth mindset though and be inspired individuals. Seeing these messages on a daily basis, reading them, letting them marinate in your mind would be good for that.
If you got any quotes that’ve impacted you, let me know! I’d love to know what’s inspired you. Here’s what I’ve featured thus far:
The best use of imagination is creativity. The worst use of imagination is anxiety. Stop letting your imagination create fear.
If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.
When you say something, first ask yourself – Is it necessary? Is it helpful? Will it create joy? Is it healing? If you cannot say yes to any of those things, don’t say it.
Intuition is always in response to something and we should honor it. Whether it seems irrational or not.