5 Steps to create a personal vision for your life

The primary motive of this article is to define the steps involved in creating our personal vision for life. Life happens around us whether we actively take control or not. The motivation behind this article is to try and gain as much control over the vision for life. I’m aware that no matter how much we plan, life will change and we’d need to adapt. But a vision, clearly helps us identify the direction that we’re going through.

Steps to create personal vision for life

I believe the most valuable time this vision helps is when you’re at crossroads and trying to take a decision. A vision filled with values, beliefs and convictions will help you take the right decision at that point in time. We do this type of vision-based thinking all the time in business and strategy. This almost sounds bizarre that we don’t employ the same level of diligence in our lives. This article is an attempt to move in this direction of creating a personal vision.

1. Self-Reflection/Defining your values: Take time to reflect on your values, passions, strengths, and areas for growth. Understand what truly matters to you and what brings you joy and fulfillment.
2. Create a Vision Statement: Craft a concise and inspiring vision statement that encapsulates your aspirations and the kind of person you want to become. This statement should serve as your guiding light and inspire you to stay focused on your path.
3. Visualize Your Future: Use visualization techniques to vividly imagine yourself living your vision. Picture the specific achievements, experiences, and emotions you want to manifest in your life.
4. Develop an Action Plan: Break down your long-term vision into actionable steps and set short-term objectives. Create a practical plan to work towards your goals and regularly review and adjust your course as needed.
5. Define Your Goals: Set clear and specific goals for different aspects of your life, such as career, relationships, health, personal development, and contribution to society. Your goals should align with your values and reflect your desired future.

Why should we create a personal vision for life?

1. Clarity and Focus: A personal vision helps you gain clarity about what truly matters to you and what you want to achieve. It provides a clear direction and focus, guiding your decisions and actions towards your desired outcomes.
2. Motivation and Inspiration: When you have a compelling vision, it becomes a source of motivation and inspiration. It energizes you to pursue your goals and overcome obstacles, even in challenging times.
3. Alignment with Values: Crafting a personal vision enables you to align your goals and actions with your core values and beliefs. This alignment creates a sense of authenticity and fulfillment in your life.
4. Long-Term Perspective: A personal vision encourages you to think about the bigger picture and your long-term aspirations. It helps you set meaningful and achievable long-term goals that contribute to your overall well-being and happiness.
5. Resilience and Perseverance: Having a clear vision provides a sense of purpose, which enhances your resilience and ability to persevere during setbacks. It helps you bounce back from challenges and stay committed to your journey.
6. Personal Growth and Development: Creating a vision requires self-reflection and introspection, leading to personal growth and self-awareness. It encourages continuous learning and development as you work towards your goals.
7. Enhanced Decision-Making: Your personal vision serves as a guidepost for decision-making. It helps you make choices that align with your long-term objectives, making it easier to prioritize and avoid distractions.
8. Fulfillment and Satisfaction: Pursuing a personal vision brings a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction, as you are living a life that aligns with your authentic self and values.
9. Increased Focus on What Matters: A clear vision helps you filter out distractions and focus on what truly matters, enabling you to optimize your time and resources.
10. Legacy and Impact: Creating a personal vision allows you to consider the legacy you want to leave behind and the impact you wish to have on others and the world around you.

Self reflection of your values

I like this ted talk from Larisa Halilovic which talks about the core values as the compass of our life. They define who we are as people, the things we care about and the ones that we tend to ignore. In essence, these values make a strong definition of our character and personality. They influence the decisions we make in life.

The first step of creating a personal vision in life is by analysing our core values. Some common examples of values are – kindness, generosity, ambition, self-reliance, integrity, freedom etc. This self-reflection helps us understand what matters the most to us. Self-reflection is a continuous process that needs our constant attention. At this stage, we are only thinking at a very high level. You can easily relate this to the OKR model where we think about broad objectives that we focus on. These objectives are based on the culture and core values of a company. It is similar in our personal life as well.

Try to identify these core values that are most important to you. Define them as clearly as possible and if possible document them in either a mind map or a piece of paper.

Defining your vision/destiny statement

These core values help you identify who you are as a person. Define a vision statement for yourself. A sample vision statement template is shown below. It usually covers the main areas such as purpose, values and the beneficiaries of the outcome. Again, this doesn’t have to be perfect but indicative so that we know what constitutes the vision for our life.

Source: https://www.nulivo.com/items/608/vision-and-mission-statements-keynote-template

Some sample vision statements for life are:

• “I envision a life filled with purpose and passion, where I am continually growing and embracing new opportunities. I am a source of inspiration and positivity, empowering others to unleash their full potential and create meaningful connections.”
• “I see myself living a life of adventure and exploration, fearlessly stepping out of my comfort zone to discover my true potential. I am a catalyst for change, advocating for sustainable practices and environmental stewardship to protect our planet.”
• “My vision is to be a source of support and encouragement for those in need, fostering a sense of belonging and empowerment within my community. I am a catalyst for positive change, igniting a ripple effect of compassion and inclusivity.”

Visualising your future

This is a powerful step. This speaks to visualising and defining clarity for our vision. A vision indicates a high level statement about your personality. However, it needs to be broken down into areas that matter in your life. The most common example I have seen is to break it down into areas such as:

• Physical
• Emotional
• Relationship
• Business
• Finance

You might have different segments depending on what’s important to you. But you get the general idea about creating a vision statement and visualising. The trick in creating a personal vision is to make sure that you define a mental image. A picture is worth a thousand words. If you’re able to imagine how this person would look like when a goal is achieved, you might be able to mimic some of those personality traits that can help you get there. Sometimes it even helps us identify a role model on whom we can model this.

Develop an action plan

Now that you have the top three sections of creating a personal vision for life, it is time to get to the details and create an action plan. The action plan must have timelines to be effective and identify when you need to do what.

While defining this action plan, make sure that you try to get as many details as possible. For instance you might have a goal to get to 6 pack abs. But what do the steps look like and what are the realistic timelines to get there? It is great to say that we have a long term goal, but unless we define the steps and create an action plan, it doesn’t get real.

Define your goals and milestones

What is a goal without success factors right? The worst mistake I have seen is to create a goal with only one final outcome. It doesn’t help us define whether we are getting close to a final goal or not. Make sure that you define your milestones and identify how they lead to success. I think the most common mistake we all do is to wait for the final outcome.

Success and failures leave clues. The best thing we can do is to keep adapting and changing our approach. The most valuable way to do this is by defining the smaller steps or milestones that help us get to the final outcome.

I would like to leave with you with a beautiful quote from Anthony Robbins before we close off this discussion:

“If you don’t set a baseline standard for what you’ll accept in life, you’ll find it easy to slip into behaviors and attitudes or a quality of life that’s far below what you deserve”

Anthony Robbins