How to Create a Vision for Your Life
If you feel hopeless and like you’re just passing time, it could be because you don’t have a vision for your life. As human beings, we need an intended destination, a finish line, and something that can energize us and bring us joy.
We can work ourselves to the bone and still not feel like we’ve accomplished anything. Most of the time, that is directly correlated with not having a vision of where you are going.
The truth is, if you don’t create your own life vision, you’ll end up living and going after other people’s visions. Having your own vision helps you create a new reality.
This word, vision, is a powerful one. Vision is about being able to think about or plan for your future through a combination of imagination and wisdom. Where there is no vision, the people perish. Vision is crucial to creating momentum in your life.
A good vision helps you stay on track with your goals. Your life’s vision must fire you up. It’s a powerful tool to propel you to live your dream life. You become fulfilled, peaceful, and happy when you have a clear idea of the direction you’d like your life to take.
This is a step-by-step process of How to Create a Vision for Your life. Looking at life from a bigger picture is one of the most effective strategies for living your best life where you are fulfilled. This is the ultimate story you tell about the impact and mark you will leave on the world.
Why you need a life vision
Before we get into how to create a life vision, we need to take a step back and understand why we need it in the first place. These are key reasons why a life vision is an important thing to have.
- It helps you work and make the right decisions according to your values and priorities in life.
- Having a specific vision gives you the right direction and a sense of purpose for your life.
- It gives you a clear image of what you are doing and the reason why.
- In tough times, your vision is the best way to stay motivated, encouraged, and inspired.
- A long-term vision helps you get out of your comfort zone and set goals for what you want to achieve.
- Powerful visions are a north star and compass that directs your thoughts, actions, and goals.
- A concise vision gives you a clear picture and path toward the life of your dreams.
What’s the difference between a life vision and a long-term goal?
Your life’s vision gives you a bigger picture of your life and your intended destination for your entire life. It’s essentially your why. A big vision includes the things you want to accomplish in important areas of your life, how you want to contribute to the world, and the impact you want to make.
The vision is what defines the long-term goal and gives it a framework. Based on your vision, you can set meaningful goals.
A long-term goal is a milestone that helps you achieve your end results. It’s an outcome that you want and through strategic planning, you can map out the actionable steps you’ll take to get them.
How to Create a vision for your life
A crystal clear vision blossoms from your dreams, hopes, priorities, and aspirations. Setting a vision requires time, energy, and reflection.
The great thing is, it will be worth it, as it will resonate with your values and ideals and will generate enthusiasm to help strengthen your commitment to explore the possibilities of your life.
Have an open mind and don’t limit yourself. Dream big. Don’t allow fear or a lack of confidence to shortchange your vision.
If your vision doesn’t make you at least a little uncomfortable, then you probably aren’t dreaming big enough. It should be scary but also exciting. Remove any negative thoughts or limiting beliefs from your mind. Let’s get started!
1. Reflect on your life and ask yourself important questions
- The first step you need to take is to reflect on all areas of your life. Take a step back and audit each area of your life to understand how you are tracking against your ideal life.
- Give yourself permission to slow down to speed up. We need to stop at times and evaluate what we’re doing, where we’re going, and how we’re going to get there.
- Intentionally take some time off work or your business and go to an inspiring area without distractions (this includes switching off your cell phone). This free time can be on Saturday morning when you are relaxed with no deadlines or a lot of things on your calendar.
- Rather than just continue to work, work, work, take this time to reflect on your past, and what you accomplished, and consider the vision you have for the future.
- Pray for this time, for insight, direction, and wisdom from God.
- Think about the direction you want your life to steer into the future. It means you look back and evaluate your past and learn lessons that you can use as you look ahead. We don’t dwell on the past, but we can learn from it and make necessary adjustments that will drive us forward.
- Give yourself permission to dream. It’s perfectly fine to slow down to speed up. It’s better to be intentional in our planning than to just do, do, do all the things. Be creative. Consider ideas that you never thought possible. Focus on your wishes, not what others expect of you.
As you slow down and come up with a vision, ask yourself the right questions to get to the answer. Write down the answers and see how some of the answers connect with what really matters to you.
Questions to ask yourself:
- Where am I feeling led?
- What do I want to accomplish?
- What are my values?
- What are my talents? What’s special about me?
- What are my deepest desires, dreams, and secret passions?
- What legacy do I want to leave behind?
- What problems in the world bother, anger, or ignite me, and do l want to solve them?
- What does my ideal future look like in important areas of my life such as family, career, society, business, physical health, finances, and my spiritual life?
- What really matters to me in life? Not what should matter, what does matter.
- What would l like to have more of in my life?
- Set aside money for a moment; what do l want in my career?
- What would bring more joy and happiness into my life?
- What qualities would l like to develop?
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2. Write a letter from your future
The second step as you reflect on your life is to write a letter from your future. This helps to tie everything together and connect the dots in your mind.
When you’re 90 years old, what will you most be proud of? What things would you have done to be fulfilled and content? What will your dream life look like? What do you want your life to look like? What type of person do you want to be? What do you want your family to look like? What would you like your career to be?
Envision what you want your life to look like. Think about an end goal. This mental image helps you see what legacy you want to have and what’s important to you. Picture it and see it in vivid detail.
3. Write a personal vision statement
The next step is to write a personal vision statement. This is a powerful statement that describes your big goals, interests, skills, strengths, and values. It’s a concise statement that looks at the big picture of your life and can be based on any aspect of your life such as professional goals, life goals, or even spiritual goals.
Your vision statement should reflect both your work life and personal life. This tool guides your decision-making process and actions. Strong vision statements give you a better understanding of your dream life and a plan for success.
Find a purpose or reason behind your vision. Do you want to know a secret? When you have a true purpose or a why, it’s also easier to stick to it!
Examples of personal vision statements
- My vital role in the lives of my children automatically means that I have a great purpose in life. Instead of dreaming about the world and seeing my value, I strive every day to be the hero of my family. My job as a parent is to mindfully raise my children in an environment of acceptance, love, and affirmation.
- My personal vision is to have a life of meaning for myself and others. It is important to me to live my life in a way that shows kindness, care, and concern for each family member, friend, and even strangers. Earn respect for myself based on a recognition of my accomplishments and abilities, maintain a sense of appreciation for the beauty of nature, and a sense of humor.
- My personal vision is to be a leader in my field, using my expertise to create positive change in the world. I’m a big believer in working towards personal development in my career by advancing my skills and building meaningful connections with others in my industry.
4. Put the vision into practice
It’s now time to put your vision into practice. Don’t create the vision and leave as is as you’ll continue aimlessly walking around without a destination. Have a follow-through plan. Write your vision down and use it.
Where can you use your life vision statement?
- Use your vision to make important decisions in life for you and your family members.
- You can use it as a guide when choosing your dream job. Does the company and its values match yours?
- Include your vision statement on your resume to make it unique and stand out from the other candidates.
- Write your vision statement somewhere you can see it in your home. Include it in your journal or notebook, on your vision board, on your bedroom or bathroom mirror, or car dashboard. Put it in a prominent place where it can guide and direct your day.
- Your vision statement will help you to mentally and physically launch into the new year and to set goals you want to achieve.
- Your life’s vision can be used to come up with a word for the year. Every year I like to come up with a word for that year that describes the driving force behind my actions. Do you do the same thing? It helps you keep the vision in front of you.
The best way to have a clear picture of where your life is going is to set a vision for it. This big-picture thinking will fire your soul and guide your decisions, help you set goals, motivate you, and help you live a meaningful and fulfilling life that you can be proud of.
Be flexible and open to the fact that your vision may need to be changed or tweaked as time goes on and circumstances become different. Think of your vision as a living thing.
Your life will go through transitions and as you go through personal growth, your vision can be adjusted over the years. As you form new beliefs and have new personal goals you can set a new vision for your life.
