Last month I wrote about making your vision a priority and how that enabled me to have a true north or something that guided my decision-making processes. This month I want to continue with helping you make a start and hopefully getting your thoughts into some order. The end goal is for you to have that vision clearly down on paper.

Think about these questions first of all:

Where do you want to end up?

What do you want to be known for?

Who will you be with?

What will you be doing?

Are you treading water or catching waves?

Is it in line with what you are doing now?

Yes – good, No – oh shit, what are you going to do about that?

I confessed last month that I found this process really tough. I’ve coached a number of people through this and I get some comfort from that fact that I was not alone in the struggle.

I felt there was a school of thought that it had to be done in a certain way, or I was failing myself and the process. That caused me to give up too easily and accept defeat. At many stages I made excuse after excuse along the lines of, “I’m not creative” or “I don’t need a vision, I’ve got this far without one.” Then I just did what I should have done all along and forgot about all the so-called rules and just wrote down on anything that was to hand to keep a record of it, what was in my heart.

For me it was a laptop and notepad, but for you it may be a pen and paper or a Dictaphone.

It doesn’t matter how you get your vision down and out of your head. There is absolutely no right or wrong way to do this. You should just get it done, anyway, anyhow. It doesn’t have to be war and peace either, or filled with massive detail, just start, start anywhere and with anything. It’s amazing that once you start, the mind seems to adapt and start generating ideas.

If you want a small tip from me, I would suggest going somewhere quiet, find a space that you love, somewhere that gives you inspiration. It sounds morbid, but I have my thinking space, I’m lucky enough to live by the coast and I have always held an infinity for the sea and the sound of waves crashing on the shore. I’ll take myself off to a little spot, its morbid because it’s where they can scatter my ashes when I’m gone!!! I don’t plan on checking out anytime soon, so for now I just use the beauty and the peace and quiet for inspiration. That’s where I get time to think and plan, so find a space, your space and that’s where you need to go.

A great starting point is a simple little exercise that shouldn’t fool you with its simplicity. The exercise is the Wheel of Life, and as a Renegade member it is freely available to you in our fantastic Travectio portal.

If you’ve done this forgive me for teaching you to suck eggs, if, until now this has passed you by, now is the time to look at it, seriously.

As it sounds, it’s a circle or wheel split into section that represent an area of your life. There are standard sections which are pretty universal to us all. These tend to be Finances, Relationships (friends and family), Relationship (Spouse), Physical Health and Fitness, Personal Growth, Fun and Recreation, Physical Environment and Career. They would cover the basics in everyone’s life.

There is absolutely no right or wrong way to do this. You should just get it done, anyway, anyhow

Quite simply, you move around the wheel scoring each section of your life from 0 to 10. As you would expect or should expect, some of the sections will score highly, if you are fit and well then that could be an 8 or 9, however you may feel fit and well but want to step up and do more, a challenge, a marathon for example then you may just score 6. Work may be going well so that could score an 8 but your work/life balance is really taking a toll on your relationships so they may be a 4. That said, you may be a high flyer, earning great money, so your finances may be superb, but your soul is empty, and you hate your job, so you may score your career low but finances high.

There are so many permutations here.

There is one rule when completing this exercise.

Tell the truth.

However, that sits, its non-negotiable.

Be honest with yourself, nobody needs to see this, ever. So, if you start bullshitting yourself then you are a mug.

This simple exercise can open the flood gates, it can be a sad realisation of where you are now is far from where you want to be. It can also be a surprise that you score highly but still feel underwhelmed. That’s OK.

Just be honest, complete the wheel and date it and keep it.

This is something you should be doing every 6 to 12 months. Ideally you should be seeing positive movements but that can’t always be the case.

You will see that your wheel is undoubtedly not entirely a perfect wheel. Imagine if that wheel was on your car, it would be an unpleasant, bumpy ride.

What this exercise does is identify areas in your life where you can improve. If your relationship with your partner is poor, then you can make a plan to make it better. After all, everything is in your control. As we all know, you are responsible for everything that happens in your life. You are the architect of everything. If you want change, it’s you that has to change. If you want more, it’s you that has to get out and get more.

Your mission, this month, if you choose to accept it is; how do you smooth that wheel out, what needs to be done to make that wheel a perfect circle? Now we have a great place to start our vision from.

I will conclude this series of articles next month and we can look at how we can use this wheel of life exercise to bring your vision to life.

To be continued. . .