First of all, when thinking about drafting your vision, you have to consider the context in which it will be used. Are you trying to establish a:
- Personal Vision
- Professional Vision or
- Holistic Vision, encompassing everything you do and represent/are?
You can have several visions, depending on the different contexts you are looking at. Visions are not set in stone, they have to be revisited from time to time in order to see whether they need adjustment or whether they still feel right for you.
As you start thinking about what matters to you, putting yourself into the context, you might want to embrace the bigger picture, let yourself consider how you move through this world and who you are, i.e. what counts for you. Which qualities are important in your life? Is it empathy, creativity, openness? Try to make a list of these, max. 5 so that there still is meaning for you. Do you feel connected to these qualities? How do they feel like for you?
According to Personal Leadership, a powerful vision should have 5 Ps:
- Personal: it is your vision, write it with an ‘I’. You are the actor!
- Present: it is not a dream nor a wish list for the future. Write it in the present tense and live it NOW.
- Positive: as when working with affirmations, rather write I am, I do etc. than I don’t, I am not… this will have a much more powerful effect.
- Passionate: you need to listen to your body here; how does it feel like when you read out your vision to yourself? How does it feel like when you read it out to somebody else? Can you feel its power? Or do you need to adjust it a little bit?
- Purpose: It is all about being, not about doing. It is about your internal state and the bigger picture of your intentions as well as about your ‘highest and best. Try to imagine the difference your way of being will make to your environment, or even broader, the world.
As the Personal Leadership book summarizes very nicely: “The power in a vision comes from choosing to live in alignment with it. Use your vision as a beacon, a support, a compass. Live your vision in everything you do!”[1]
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you need help with finding and identifying your vision. It doesn’t matter how you express it actually. You might want to draw it or paint it; maybe you want to record it or write it down. Whatever feels right to you!
Enjoy the rest of your day/evening/night. Thanks for reading, Jenny
[1] B.F. Schaetti, S. J. Ramsey, G.C. Watanabe: “Personal Leadership – Making a World of Difference”, Seattle 2008, page 118.
Related articles
- The power of having a vision in your life (jennyebermann.com)
Great article, I am a fervent adept of having a holistic approach on defining your vision.starting by identifying what your true values are. Then everything you do in your life needs to be aligned with those values. Your vision guides you when you have choices to make so you honor your values.
Exactly! By putting a vision mind map together for example you can then directly see how the qualities of your vision align to the different facets of your life! Thanks for reading, Jenny
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Looking forward to trying some of this on the weekend.
Let me know how it goes! 😉
I have picked the 4 qualities that are important in my life—-health, connection, variety, and balance. I wasn’t sure of the next steps from there. What is the difference between a vision, goals, and values? I’m assuming if you are doing it right there should be overlap between all of those.
Hi there, I am so glad you are trying this! I will really help you… A vision is like a compass in your life, whether you set it for your life as a whole or for a professional purpose. The vision encompasses your values, maybe even your beliefs. The more authentic it is, driven by what we care about most, the better your vision will serve you.
An objective is then something very concrete that you set up for yourself, like for example: within 5 months, I want to reduce my weight by x kg/pounds. An objective is normally quantifiable. A goal is already much broader, maybe not even that tangible or measurable but will normally include something you will do to achieve it. A vision then focuses on being in a certain way.
Now that you have your 4 qualities, try to put them into a sentence (you need to be clear on the context, private, professional, broader, wider). Then start with: “As a … (Your role, i.e. human being, project manager etc. etc.) at my highest and best, I am … (your qualities; think about how are rather than what you will be doing), so that…(here comes your purpose, what are you striving for?).
I hope this helps! Happy to Skype with you should you need further input! Jenny
Thanks for all of the information!
You’re very welcome!
In my situation #4 is the one that will require the most effort. For the past 30 years I have been in a job that I’m very passionate about so now that I’m moving on some of that will need to be rebuilt.
Once you are clear with what you want and what is relevant for you, you can use it as a compass for all of your future steps. It will be very clear then for you what to do and in which direction to head!