What is a Vision Statement and why is it important to have one?
A Vision statement is a clear picture of yourself and the world around you in the future. It’s your ultimate goal in life.
Our lives have become incredibly complex and almost everyone is struggling to keep everything under one roof. We are supposed to have bodies like super models or athletes, have skyrocketing careers, make more money than we can spend, raise the perfect family, have a strong social network, develop our skills in an ever changing environment, practice our hobbies and still have some time for ourselves and relax.
It’s difficult!
But it is even more difficult if you don’t exactly know where to put your energy and what to focus on. Not having a plan will leave you reacting to the demands of the world and people around you rather than getting after your own goals and achieve them.
Setting a vision for your life is about working out what you really want – and understanding what you are willing to do to get it.
Here are a few steps that will help you find and articulate your personal vision.
Examine the lives of others
Think of a person you know or you know of and admire.
What is it you admire about that person?
Is it their character, their achievements, their values?
Consider the reasons you admire that person and make a detailed list of these qualities.
How do you relate to that person? Do you have similar backgrounds, dreams and or values? How are you different from that person?
Determine your ideal life
Define the kind of person you want to be. Don’t worry about who and what you are now. Let your imagination run free and design the life of your dreams.
What are your core values, your fundamental beliefs, your guiding principles?
What is it you want to achieve and why is it so important for you to achieve this?
Who do you want to share this life with and who will support you? Also think about who doesn’t and what is standing in your way.
Answering these questions will help you get a clear picture of what is important to you and what you are capable of becoming.
Consider your legacy
Write down a few statements of how you would like to be described by others after you are gone.
This may seem like a strange exercise but we often discover important qualities about ourselves if we look at ourselves through the eyes of people surrounding us.
Get started! And be warned, creating a vision statement is not something you will do in a few minutes and be done with it.
You will have to dig deep and analyze yourself, reflect on your life and look into each corner of your life. Most people write several drafts and fine tune them many times until they are comfortable with it and feel it is complete.
Once you have a vision you will be able to assess if goals you are setting for yourself are really important and know what to focus on. A vision can serve as your personal compass that will guide you in the right direction whenever you have to make difficult decisions.