To conclude this series of articles I want to use the Wheel of Life exercise we did last month and help you use that as a foundation for your vision statement.
Where this exercise can help you on your visioning journey is to imagine a day in the future where every sector scores a 10. Use each sector and write a small paragraph on how it became a 10 but also how it makes you feel for it to be a 10.
My vision talks of me selling my business and the financial security that’s provided for me and my family. Beyond that it talks into how proud that makes me feel and how others in the family look up to me as a role model to advise for the new generation. That then leads into how happy that makes me.
I talk into that because of the business acumen and reputation I’ve forged over 40 years in business. I’m able to take that knowledge into schools and colleges and help budding business owners with real knowledge and lessons they simply don’t teach you in school. Again, I talk about how inspiring I find that and how much enjoyment it gives me.
Don’t let others discourage you or talk you down. This isn’t their vision. It’s your life
Back to the task at hand, your vision and using this as a starting point.
What you can do now is use each of these sections and make up your perfect day, at some stage in the future.
There are many ways to do this, but I believe the best way is to pick a significant date in the future, a big birthday, an anniversary etc. It can be anything. What a significant day does is allow you to have everyone around you and makes it easier to picture that date. For example, a birthday normally means that you are doing something special, a party or meal perhaps. You are also likely to have those around you that you love, your partner, kids, friends, extended family etc.
I’ve worked on this with many clients and its always different for everyone. For some, the picking of a date perhaps 30 or 40 years away is impossible for them. It’s just too far in the future for them to make real. What I have done in these cases is start by bringing it closer to the now. Maybe 5 years from now and in some cases as low as 18 months away. Personally, I think 12 months to 18 months is a little too close. This, for me, is more akin to goal setting and short-term targets.
These are hugely important on their own and quite frankly if you can’t see any further in the future than that, go with it. It’s a start, which is what we want.
Where I believe these short-term goals and targets come into effect is when you have a 5, 10, 25-year vision, you can then reverse engineer that end goal and come up with the shorter-term goals that drive you towards achieving the big one.
Let me give you an example.
If your vision includes a £1Million property in the Cotswolds then unless you are making some serious cash today, that may be unlikely to happen in the next 12-18 months!!
You are going to need to think if this is an outright purchase or a mortgage.
How much deposit is required £200K? £400K?
Well how much time do you need to raise that? How will you raise it?
Does that mean selling your business?
When does that happen? 2, 3, 5, 15 years from now?
There’s nothing wrong with the end goal, now you work back and decide how it’s going to be possible.
What maybe the vision is on your 65th birthday. . . you’re having a massive party in your £1Million property in the Cotswolds, it may coincide with your retirement……you get my drift.
Just a word here on these dreams.
DREAM BIG!!
Shoot for the stars you may just land on the moon!!!
Nothing great ever got achieved by aiming low.
Don’t let others discourage you or talk you down. This isn’t their vision. It’s your life and unfortunately there are many out there that will take great joy in making fun or picking holes in it. Don’t let them, Perhaps the best way to avoid that is to keep it private for now. At the end of the day it’s you that has to achieve it and the numpty that’s currently picking holes or laughing at you is definitely not going to help you get that place in the Cotswolds!
Another testament to a vision is the fact that we all think in pictures. When I ask you to imagine your front door, you don’t see the word DOOR, you actually picture your front door. It becomes as clear as day in the front of your mind. You can use this to visualise your perfect day, where you are, who you are with, what you are doing and what you have done. All of a sudden you can see yourself sat there and it starts to become a compelling vision of your future.
Everything in life has been created twice. The laptop you sit in front of was imagined and designed in somebodies head first before they put the actual pieces together to form the physical item. Your house, your car, your office, every physical thing you see in front of you was created first, in someone’s mind and then harvested and developed to form the physical form.
Why should your life or future be any different?
Visualise it, see it, feel it, smell it and you are already on your way to making it happen.
Going back to where we started. If you plan on taking your long-suffering partner for a week to Nice or Monte Carlo on the Cote D’Azure then you have an end goal in mind. You make it specific by booking your hotel and picking a significant date. This could be your 50th birthday, so let’s not stay in the Travelodge let’s go five star. Now you have at least 2 or 3 ways you can get there. You’re not exactly sure how yet, but you know you can fly, train or drive there. You could also walk or ride a bike there, but I hope your partner shares your love of endurance sports if that’s the way you choose!
So, right now, you have a vision of spending your 50th birthday, with your partner in Monte Carlo, sipping Champagne in Cafe de Paris. The reality of the situation is, you have no idea how you are going to get there!!!
The path will appear as soon as you start focusing on the end goal.
Having a vision statement won’t get you to your desired outcome or buy that place in the Cotswolds, the Bentley, the Rolex, the 2-day week, freedom, whatever it is you’ve visualised. Only you can do that. What it will do is give you a path and a degree of clarity in where you are going that many fail to have.
Will you sit on your death bed, thinking, I wish I had done that or did less of this, or smile and say, job well done?
