Create your personal vision statement - make your personal vision materialize
Why do you need to create your Personal Vision Statement?
We are always striving toward personal development; or self improvement. No one likes to remain stagnant and or left behind, but some of us do not know where to start. It would be good to start the search with the end in the beginning.
This article aims to help create your Personal Vision Statement and work towards it. Without a vision our lives would have no direction or purpose. We need a focused approach to achieving our personal development goals. It helps an individuals to set smart goals and achieve them with ease. It aims to guide you through the steps of arriving at your personal vision statement and provides tips for effectively achieving your vision and living your dream.
How to create your vision statement?
Start at the end. This is a concept of creation mentioned in the Bible in Isaiah 46:10. All of us are creators of our own destiny. This has been widely used by the seven habits guru Steven Covey.
You must have control over the authorship of your own destiny. The pen that writes your life’s-story must be held in your hand- Irene C. Kassorla.
Each person must be in the driver's seat of their lives, and that’s not only the best, but the only position to be.
We may have seen children solving the maze puzzle. The smart ones always start at the end and trace back to the beginning. Intuitively, children know the easy way to solve problems. This is not only an easier path to follow but also one which definitely takes us where we want to go!
Steps to create your personal vision statement
Helen Keller once said “It’s a terrible thing to see and have no vision”.
A life without vision is like a city without roads. Though we hate the lack of planning in our towns and cities, most of us live the major part of our lives without planning.
All of us are passionate about something and have a dream. A personal vision is the ‘I have a dream’ moment for each one of us. This provides a blueprint for the path you need to tread to reach your desired destination. Your personal vision statement needs to be formally stated .
Asking Questions like,
What is it that I want in life the most?
What are the goals that I want to reach?
What is the most important thing that I want to do in life?
What will I regret not having done in life? This is almost like a bucket list.
- Prioritize and rank the dreams if you have more than one.
- Be specific and have a large outline of what you want.
- Align your personal vision with your personal values; a personal vision that goes against your personal values does not work.
- When you ask yourself why you want to do it, and get an answer like “that’s what I love”, you have crystallized your vision.
- Write down your own personal vision statement.
Yes, you need to do it. When a vision statement is written down, it gains clarity, objectivity and a realistic standpoint. Now you have a script for life and you are the master of your own destiny.
Make a commitment to make the vision materialize and plan adequately for it.
The responsibility to make the script work is in your hands.
Your vision statement needs to get a life
Visualize your vision statement
The next step in the process is visualization.
Create a visual imagery in your mind of your goals and your achievement . It is said that all things are created twice. The first creation happens in your mind before it materializes.
When you see yourself doing what you set out to do in your mind, not only does it makes appear real and achievable, but helps program your mind to achieve it.
This is another technique of self affirmation or positive self affirmation.
Clarity and attention to detail is vital in visualization.
You have to visualize yourself at the end in the beginning itself. This is the first creation.
Take the limits off your thinking and overcome the fear of failure at this step itself.
Live your dream - live out your personal vision
Vision without action is a daydream. This is the second creation - sweat and hard labour. If you think you are too late, or old, don’t worry. It’s never too late to do something constructive in life. Impossible is nothing when you have the passion to do it.
Break your personal vision statement into smaller and achievable modules.
Your goal needs to be broken into smaller and achievable modules, and handled in a methodical way.This would make each task look very achievable. An example would be, if you would like to author a fiction, start writing short stories for your local magazines.
Set yourself short term goals like, for example, getting a realistic number of your stories published within a time frame.
Test the waters to see where you stand. Move to the next level of getting into competition where there is universal participation. This will give you an idea of where you stand and where you need to polish your skills further.
Take stock of your skills, your knowledge base, what needs polishing and lacunae in your personality that you can improve.
Prepare yourself adequately and have back up plans ready for all exigencies. You need to take control of all that you can. Worrying about the rest is a waste of time!
Commitment, Passion, persistence and perseverance are the keywords to self actualization. There is no substitute for this. Your passion is what drives you to make it work. Regrettably, we are at a day and age when instant gratification is on the rise. All things take time to work. Hang on patiently. Be willing to put in sufficient time and effort with out expecting it to pay back immediately. Be prepared to sustain your self and your passion.
some more information on making your passion work for you
Make your personal vision happen
Be focused
Oftentimes, we are faced with negative feedback, and hear not too encouraging words from people around us. You need to respond to these situations and not react to them. Response can lead to taking inventory again and acting on them. Reacting would be heading into an emotional battle. This steals your energy and changes the direction of your efforts.
You need to work on your thoughts and change the direction of your life. It also steals your peace and your emotional health which has a telling effect on your physical health.
Get mentors
A good support system is half the battle won, it will also reinforce the effort you put in. Good mentors provide guidance and help. Their experience and the fact that they have been there and done it makes your job less terrifying. This will help you bounce back when things aren’t working well for you.
Be in touch with your personal vision at all times. Remember what you set out to do at the start, always have the end in the beginning. Visualization on a day to day basis keeps you in touch with your end goal, this is in itself an important means of power affirmation.
Believe in yourself. It will happen!