5 Essentials for Vision Planning

“I am creating the life of my dreams.”

Are you doing a vision board this year?  Vision boards are a great tool for outlining and visualizing future goals.  If you’ve never heard or done a vision board before, hopefully this post will get you on the right track.  A vision board is basically a visual representation of hopes and desired achievements.  It is a collage system that helps you draw more of what you want in your life and organize general life intentions.  They are created physically on boards or digitally through different software applications.  Ultimately, it is used to help you realize your goals.

Before getting into the nitty gritty of vision boarding, it’s important to understand what a vision is.  The vision must be perceived before it is laid out on paper or digital canvas.  Only by understanding what the vision is can it be wrought and subsequently actualized.  In the business environment, visions are short statements that describe aspirations after achieving a mission.  It is future focused, taking into account goals and intentions.  In this regard, a personal vision defines what you want in life, your future achievements, and hopes.  It cannot stop there though.

Visions are ideally not complete without an accompanying mission describing the “how.”  A vision without action dissipates.  For this reason, an action plan must follow a defined vision; however, I won’t get to far ahead now.  In making your vision board, journal or book, you are essentially vision planning.  This means your projecting a future hope considering your purpose, position and passion.

Defining you vision can either take time or be especially easy.  While formulating your vision, it is essential to do a few things that will help make your vision achievable.  Before you start laying down your vision you might want to ask: what are three goals, you would like to achieve; what would you like to improve in; what future position do you desire now; and what does accomplishing your purpose (goals, success, hope, etc.) look like.  In doing this you can organize some of the following essentials needed for vision planning.

Focus Word

Select a word or even a phrase to shape your vision and give it a focal point to work from.  This word should be a driving force, motivation, or desired constant for a designated period of time.  Your vision board should be aligned with this focus word or phrase.

Canvas

Physical or digital.  In choosing what you want to work with, not every canvas or medium works for everyone.  If you are someone who is more tech savvy you may enjoy designing your board on apps like Canva.  Perhaps, you prefer to do things with your hand, so cutting and pasting designing on a poster board may be more effective.  Selecting your canvas is important as this is what you will be looking at, referring to and using through out the year and possibly years to come.

Self-Awareness

You need to know who you are and what you want in order to lay your vision out.  If you don’t though, that’s okay.  There are ways to start.  First and foremost, in getting to know yourself you have to spent time with yourself—alone.  Then take advantage of different resources and tools that can help you learn more about yourself, your strengths, aptitudes, and even wanting areas.  Such tools and resources include learning your work personality, the 16 personality test and the Myers-Briggs personality test.

SMART Goals

Knowing your end-game can be invaluable in defining your vision.  You know what you want the future to look like; so what are the needed steps to get there?  This will influence your vision.  SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and have a set time.  This is important to incorporate into your vision, because your vision, as lofty as it might me, must be something that you can actually do in a set period of time with a clear result.  It would be impractical to set a vision to inhabit Jupiter in the next 50 years—it’s not possible!

Future Optimism

Be optimistic about your future.  Sure, your vision should have some grounding, but it should not restrain your aspirations, and neither should your attitude, circumstance, or current ability.  Visions will be accomplished over time and in that time, you can gather everything you need in order to make sure your vision is fulfilled.

These essentials are not physical necessities that will help you on the day of a vision board party or creation.  Rather this is the before work for you to ponder over; so that when you are ready to construct your vision board you are not pulling from thin air, but effectively visualizing your future hope, intentions and goals.

How will you start vision planning?