House In Order?

Some people I know, women mostly, have in mind exactly what they're looking for in a house: square footage, paint colors inside and out, two-story or one, decorating concepts, kinds of towels for the bathroom, number of bedrooms, all that stuff. This does not mean they're actually living in that dream home, but they do have a very definite picture in their minds.
   I don't have a vision of a home. Never have. For years now as far as I've been concerned I just needed a roof over my head, three hots and a cot. Anything else was just luxury.
   Back when I took a lot of art classes in high school and college we did create some floorplans, the idea was to teach us basic drafting and control to go with the crazy abandon art students arrive with. I came up with blue-sky kid stuff kinds of things, like a volcano secret lair with a firepole like Batman had and access to a subterranean river like the Avengers did. I also did one that resembled a beehive for some reason I can't recall now. Nothing serious. But the girls… they were on it. Sun rooms, kitchens (which I had neglected), conservatories, separate bedrooms for their three kids – they always seemed to want three kids – and huge closets and painted accent walls and swatches and samples and all that business. Jeez…
   Before now, and I mean right now, as I write this, I never saw how I suffered for that lack of vision. Nothing to strive for, as it were, no concept of where I was going. And I don't mean just with the house stuff, I mean generally, across the board. I've always known I wanted to be a published author, since I was about eight years old, but I never really had much more than a vague notion that I would write novels – maybe comic books if I was lucky - and then see my name in print. The middle bit I assumed would take care of itself (thinking just like the underpants gnomes). Same thing with getting married, having kids, leading a life of purpose, all that jazz; I knew I wanted to do those things, but I didn't really have a vision for how to accomplish them. I did all right, made a few bucks, got on TV a few times, met some nice people and went across the world. But I haven't yet mastered the things that really matter, or at least that I think should really matter.
   I know I'm not unique in this, most people in the world are just trying to get by day to day. But that doesn't mean that I have to join in with them. Goals with no plan are just dreams, after all. It takes a fair bit of planning and execution to bring about the things you want to see in your world.
   So here's the deal: at risk of sounding like a bad self-help infomercial, I'm going to start putting some effort into planning out how I'm going to achieve what I want. Trouble is, I haven't done the best job with this so far, so I'm not really certain how to start. I'll figure it out. I hope.