I was listening to Transformation Church’s sermon called “Vacant Vision” during my drive to work last week – and I was completely blown away. I was already in the process of thinking through the importance of vision for your life because of my upcoming Life Audit Bootcamp, but this took it to an entirely new level. 

Pastor Mike Todd gave the analogy of going on vacation. When we go on vacation, we have an idea of what we’d like to do when we get to our destination, right? We have an itinerary (or at least things we want to do) and we pack our bags with everything we could possibly need while on our trip. We don’t know exactly what’s coming or what difficulties we may face – but we’re prepared. 

Why don’t we do that with our lives? 

You see, many of us have a bigger vision for our upcoming trips, birthday celebrations, and fall nails; but we lack that same kind of vision for our lives 5-10 years from now. Heck! Some of us don’t even have a vision for the next 6 months.

My question for you today is “why?” What is it about casting a vision for your life that seems scary, or even impossible? Is it because you don’t think you can achieve it? Is it because you don’t want to be judged for your vision? I encourage you to dig deep into those questions so you can really benefit from the tips I’m going to share with you. We’re gonna dive into the difference between your vision and your goals, the importance of vision for your life, and effective ways that you can start creating a meaningful vision for your life today. Let’s dive in!

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What’s the difference between your vision and your goals?

Your vision is the big picture you have for your life. It’s who you want to be, what you want to be known for, the impact you want to have, and more! 

Your goals, on the other hand, are the individual milestones that help you make progress towards that vision. Many times we set goals that aren’t aligned with our vision and we wonder why it’s hard to stay motivated or committed to that goal when in reality the goal just wasn’t one that aligned with the bigger picture.

Why is it important to create a vision for your life?

You could be feeling stuck simply because you lack vision for your life.

If you’re someone who often feels stuck or like you just haven’t been feeling inspired throughout your day-to-day routine, it could be because you don’t have a vision for the life you want. Having a vision for the life you want can literally be the jumpstart you need to start setting goals and taking meaningful actions towards fulfilling that vision. Vision will give you clarity and a direction to move.

Many of you know that I’m a Christian, so every now and then I’ll throw in an applicable verse. Proverbs 29:18 says when there is no vision, the people perish. If you don’t develop your vision, you’ll allow other people and circumstances to direct the course of your life.

Vision eliminates excuses.

When you know the vision you have for your life, and when you’re reminded of that vision, it’s harder to create excuses as to why you don’t want to do what you need to do. For example, if your vision for your health is a more fit body and you remind yourself of that daily, then it’ll be more difficult to create an excuse.

Vision lets you know what to say yes to and what to say no to.

You’ll know what opportunities are aligned with your vision and which ones are going to deter you from your vision. This is soooo important!

When you encounter roadblocks, your vision can help push you through those roadblocks.

7 ways to create a vision for your life

Journal

I always encourage my friends and clients to journal their thoughts to various questions to help them dig deeper into how and what they’re really feeling. If you absolutely HATE journaling, another option is to record a voice memo and literally just talk. It may be weird at first, but once you start it just keeps flowing!

Here are some questions to help get you started:

• When you die, what would you want people to say about you?
• What do you believe you’re capable of in life?
• Who are the types of people you want to be surrounded by? What are their characteristics?

Do a Life Audit

A life audit can give you clarity not only about where you are in life, but also where you want to be. You can do this by writing out the different areas of your life (health, finances, relationships, career, etc) and how you feel about them currently. After, in those same areas, rate them on a scale of 1-10 of how important that area is to you. Then write out what your vision is for each and every one of those areas.

Write down your vision

Vision is not valid until it’s written down. 

When you think about your vision, that’s cool and all but it only exists in your mind! The same analogy I mentioned earlier about packing your bags in preparation for a tip, is the same way you can be writing out your vision and preparing yourself for what’s to come. Are you ready for the life you envisioned? Read that again.

Prepare for your vision

You don’t pack for an upcoming trip when you’re on the trip, right? You pack before you leave. It’s the same with our lives. So many of us are just letting life happen to us without any preparation. Instead, based on the vision you have for your life, start preparing today. If your vision for your health is healthier foods and a lower weight, you can start preparing for that today by researching the healthier options for food. Research the effective ways you can lose weight and keep it off. Research the exercises that you can start with.

Another way for you to prepare for your vision is by letting go of the things that are hindering your vision. Are you holding on to friendships and relationships that don’t serve you? Are you holding on to the need to “fit in” with others in your life? Are you surrounding yourself with junk food that’ll make it harder to choose the fruits in the fridge? 

Change your environment. Align yourself with others that have the same vision. Start preparing yourself for your vision today.

Plan backwards

This goes along with preparing for your vision. A key part of preparing for something that hasn’t come yet is thinking about what you’ll need before it comes. If your vision for your finances is to have more self-control with impulse spending, then what beliefs do you need to adopt before you can accomplish that? What habits would you need? What kind of support would you need?

Set Goals

As mentioned earlier, your vision is the big picture and your goals are the milestones. Setting goals without a larger destination in mind is pointless, so now that you know your vision, it’s important to set goals that align with that vision. 

Related: How to Improve Your Goal Setting

Review your vision

Your vision will likely change throughout different seasons in your life. It’s important to review your vision regularly, once a month, or even once a quarter. You could even make it a habit to simply read the vision you wrote down every morning to help motivate you throughout the day. That’s what I’m going to start doing!

Final Thoughts

It’s so very important to have a vision for your life, and I encourage you to start taking those steps so that you can create that vision. It won’t always be fun. You won’t always feel encouraged or motivated. But my hope for you is that you’re reminded of your vision each and every day. So that you remember your why.

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