Creating your vision for your life can seem like a terrible waste of time, but it’s not. In fact, creating the future you’re going for is the best and most proven strategy for achieving what you want to achieve. The best way to think of a vision is as a compass, a navigation tool, your own personal guide that allows you to remember the direction you want to go in, even in the face of challenges, so that life can be the way you want it to be. Seeing, dreaming, envisioning the place you want to go is of great value.
Why do you even need a vision?
Let’s start with why many of us don’t have a vision. The answer to the question of why you don’t have a vision is always answered in the form of “Why not?! Come on… because life gets in the way and events happen. Because there are money matters, there are practical matters. I have to consider the environment, I meet the expectations of, maybe when I retire, my parents won’t have what they didn’t succeed in, even if I had what do you think would really happen?”
On the other hand, we know that a business company, organization, non-profit organization, or any group of people who don’t have a shared vision will fall apart very quickly, or won’t find enough strength to keep moving forward over time. Yes, but…they are a company, an organization, a non-profit organization. They owe it because of the money they invest, they owe it so that people will stay, but me? For myself? What, why?
Successful people say they’ve had this dream, this place in their head for a long time. It didn’t happen by chance, it didn’t just happen. It was there and they worked all the way in that direction until they succeeded. When there were questions about whether to go there or this way, the answer was pretty clear, which allowed me to continue in the direction of my vision, which would allow me to fulfill it, because this is the life I want for myself.
If you have a vision, a future that you aspire to reach, you will be less likely to be swayed by the needs and voices of others, even if they are very persuasive.
Shaping your future means building the path that will lead you to the personal and professional life that is right for you, the life that will create the feeling of happiness, satisfaction, and fulfillment.
What's stopping you?
A million things. But mostly…..
How to shape your future, create a vision!
Shaping the future requires a moment of pause and deep thought about the variety of things in life that are meaningful to you, about your strengths, about the current reality of life and how you can move forward from it, what you already have and what needs to be completed. The best future that you can create for yourself will include your childhood dream, if there was one, but not as raw material – I wanted to be a doctor. But more in the place of why I wanted it, what intrigued me there, what was it. And from there, today such a dream can be translated into a completely different profession that has elements and understandings of what in the profession fascinated me as a child. After all, as children we have a very small variety of professions before our eyes. And as adults, there is an insane abundance of possibilities.
Your best vision will be well-crafted if it includes the things that really matter to you, the aspirations, the values, the strengths, the things that arouse your curiosity and interest. The areas that make you excited, interested, and read for hours without feeling like time is passing. Those topics that sweep you away and arouse in you good energy, a desire and a desire to read more or talk more with these people.
That sounds great, really, but what if I don’t even know what I really want or what I’m really good at?
The expectation that you will have a clear and defined vision with immediate goals and steps is a false expectation.
What do you want?!
One of the simplest and most complex questions to answer for adults over the age of ten. It’s scary to answer what I really want to do, what I really want, because it requires us to decide on a direction, which means giving up other things, and what if everything interests me?! It requires us to focus only on ourselves for a moment, and ignore the needs of others, and it sometimes feels wrong, and what will they say? It requires listening to ourselves, being in a very personal place and taking responsibility for our lives, and what if it doesn’t work out? Who do we blame if not the parents or the teacher who didn’t believe that something would come out of us and said the immortal sentence that the girl has potential. And maybe there is hope in us for someone to discover something in us, and we will tell the lovely story of how it all happened by chance and how lucky it was.
So that’s not it. The feeling of satisfaction and success comes from knowing that I planned and created, I achieved what I aimed for, and it didn’t happen by chance! When things happen by chance, when success happens to us and there is no feeling that we did anything for it, an experience of pretending is created. “It’s not me who really succeeded…and soon they will find out that I’m not that smart / talented / knowledgeable…” We are not in a Cinderella story. There is no point in waiting.
Your future, your vision, did not happen by chance, by luck, although I do not disdain the goddess of luck J, but it can definitely happen if you plan it, know what the direction is, where you are going, but before that, why. Why is this the direction, why is this the matter. Why make an effort for it.
This is how you shape a future, a vision
One way to break through our thinking and introduce a different kind of thought that doesn’t deal with everyday worries is to ask provocative questions to see the possibilities that exist and try to grasp them, to document them, just before all the defense mechanisms and excuses come into play! Here are some tips on how to answer the questions without falling into your usual patterns.
- Ask yourself why, why, why do I want this?
- Answer questions about what is yes and what is no.
- It is advisable to fly, to dream. Not everything has to be on the ground. Not at this stage. It will come, don’t worry. The freedom for creativity is precisely in the dream stage.
- Ask yourself, is this my desire or someone else’s? Is it really interesting to me? Is it important to me?
- And dwell on this thought for a moment – would it make me happy, would it make me joyful if it were a daily part of my life?
And now, in a beautiful notebook on your computer or mobile phone, with sticky notes, pictures and words only, on the bed or outside, with coffee or a small glass, music in your ears or the quiet of being alone, a few breaths, relax, and answer from the heart without self-criticism, and enjoy a wonderful future for a moment. Step 1:
10 questions for shaping the future
- What is really important to you in life? Not what should be important, but what is important.
- What would you like to have more of in your life?
- If we ignore money for a moment, what is your ultimate career?
- What is your secret dream, your passion?
- What would bring more joy to your life if it happened?
- What your meaningful relationships should look like
- These are the qualities you should develop.
- What are your values, what do you really care about?
- What are your skills, what is your uniqueness?
- What is most important to you to achieve in life?
And a bonus question for advanced students – what is important to you to leave behind for your children, friends, and environment. What will they say about you behind your back or after you are gone? Traits, behaviors, values, actions, materialism… and it will do you good.
And there are other ways to develop your thinking about the future. You can read about practical techniques for shaping the future in this post here.
The first step
Now that there is a slightly clearer picture of what the destination is that we are aiming for, we need to look at where I am and what is the first step that will advance me towards the future that I hope for. The “law” says that it is important to think one step or years ahead but no more! If you think too far ahead, it scares, paralyzes and you do nothing. At this stage where there is direction, the process becomes one small step further possible each time.
Dream maintenance
It’s important to check this future that’s written there every now and then. Will something change, maybe a version needs to be updated? This is not a dream on paper, this is not a Hollywood version, none of us are princes or princesses, life is accompanied by changes of its own accord. Yes, sometimes we are surprised and surprised, yes, sometimes it no longer fits or does not arouse desire. It is alive, it is dynamic, life and dreams. Check yourself once in a while. But I must say that if you took the first step from a place of honesty and connection to yourself, to who you are, to what is truly important to you, it will hold water even after a long period of time.
Life as a design project
Doing nothing is not really doing nothing. Rather, it is doing the same thing. If the current situation is great for you, great. You don’t have to change, you don’t have to change just for the sake of it. And maybe it feels like uncertainty because your understanding of your strengths and abilities isn’t there, and when that doesn’t exist, the sense of control over life disappears. It’s time to design a future for yourself from which new possibilities will emerge. Life is an ongoing design project. It has fashions and seasons and budgets and space. With pleasure and success.
