Before setting your goals, let’s talk about your vision. (includes FREE vision worksheet to get you started)

“If you are working on something exciting that you care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.”

Steve Jobs

Why do you need a personal vision?

True visionaries are known to have personal visions. Steve Jobs’s “computer for the rest of us” sparked the home computer revolution and made Apple an iconic global brand. Significant innovations, cultural shifts, companies, and careers are not created by chance.

Having a vision is like being a ship captain with a set destination in mind. It enables us to map out our journey, prepare ourselves and our team, and get the resources we need. 

By having a vision, we are more likely to know when we are on and off course, which enables us to course correct. We don’t just wander around, getting distracted and hoping for the best.

Vision helps you to make decisions

For me, personal vision is the destination describing what you want for your future self and who you want to become. It is success, as you define it. It can be as elaborate or direct as you want it to be, and it should reflect your core values and a sense of purpose. People with a personal vision don’t need to be motivated; It pulls them powerfully because they value what’s in it!

Some people argue that having a vision may restrict them. They ask: “What if this great opportunity comes up that was not a part of my vision?”

Well, It means that they get to make a conscious decision and have the criteria to follow through with it. They get to ask themselves a few questions:

• Does this opportunity bring me closer or further from my vision? 

• What am I gaining from it, and what am I compromising? 

• How does it affect my timelines

Sometimes it means a change in the vision itself because we learn something new about ourselves and what is important to us. However, we get to make a conscious decision rather than just letting ourselves be carried by the events and circumstances in our life.

You are more likely to spot opportunities and achieve your goals

Having personal vision has also been proven to prime our brain to see opportunities that others would easily miss. When we know what we want, we are quicker at recognising patterns and then utilising random events to our advantage or even creating opportunities where there were none!

Furthermore, research has shown that people who naturally set more challenging and vivid personal visions set more specific and complex goals. Individuals who conceptualised a vivid personal vision were more committed to their goals.  So, define your vision first and then set your goals. That way, you are more likely to follow through and find meaning in the process.

 Would you like to give it a go? Download a simple worksheet that will guide you in creating your vision and, importantly, the benefits that come with having it.