Ways To Create A Vision For The Life You Want
Vision is essentially the ‘why’ behind your actions. It is why you do the things you do. It is who you want to be. It is the motivating force behind your behaviors. Without vision you have no direction.
Nelson Mandela once said, “Action without vision is only passing time, vision without action is merely day dreaming, but vision with action can change the world.”
This suggests that in order to be truly effective we need a vision for our lives in order to drive our lives. It might sound like a challenge but developing a vision for what you want out of life is easier than you may believe.
What Do You Want?
One key to developing a vision for your life is to assess what you want from life. When considering this you may ask yourself questions such as: “Who do I desire to be?” “What is my ultimate goal for myself?” “What kind of statement do I want my life to make?”
These kinds of questions will help you narrow down what you want for yourself. It’s also important to assess any outside influences (peers, family, media, etc.) that might have caused you to develop a vision that does not align with who you are. Ultimately, this is your life and you should be the person calling the shots.
What Are Your Beliefs?
Our beliefs have a lot of influence in our lives. What we believe often informs our desires and actions, so it’s important to reflect on your beliefs and how they impact the future you envision for yourself. What you ultimately want is a vision that aligns with your beliefs, so you don’t experience internal conflict or a lack of peace. When your beliefs are accounted for and incorporated in your vision, you can ensure a future that brings you true joy and peace.
What Are You Passionate About?
The things we are passionate about are often the things we love to do and the things that bring us joy. Thus, it is natural to insinuate that our visions for our lives would incorporate our passions in some manner.
Consider questions like:
“What makes me feel most at peace?”
“What gives me the greatest sense of fulfillment?”
“What brings me the greatest feeling of joy?” Answering these questions will help you to discover those things that add value to your life and those things that allow you to express yourself in the most authentic way.
What Are your Talents?
Often, the things we are talented at are also the things we are passionate about. But even in instances where this is not the case, our talents can still help us establish a vision for our lives. The logical thinking is that if you are naturally gifted at a particular skill you were given that talent for a reason and should consider how you might use it to add value to your life and others.
What Matters Most to You?
This may be one of the most important parts of creating a vision for what you want from life. It goes without saying that what matters most to you is typically very closely tied to what you want from life. If family matters most to you your vision for your future will likely involve having a family of your own.
If your career matters most to you then your vision for the future will likely center around professional achievements. The point is that by narrowing down what matters to you, you can better outline what you want your life to look like.
So it’s time to get clear about what you want from life. The only way you can move beyond a vision and into actual fruition is to first clearly establish the life you want. In doing so you will be better equipped to develop goals that help you achieve your vision and you’ll be better motivated to stay the course when life tries to throw you a curveball.
