How to Define Your Life Vision? -

The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.
Helen Keller

A vision is a bigger picture of your life and a future that you strive towards. It comes from knowing yourself, listening to your heart, respecting your core values, and following your life purpose. Your life vision helps you determine ‘what is it that you want in life’ and your purpose clarifies your motivations for wanting it.

Vision is your what – what do you want to be in life and what do you want to accomplish?
Purpose is your why – why do you want to achieve your vision?
Goal is your how – how do you plan to achieve your vision?

A clear vision guides you through life providing clarity, meaning, and motivation. It helps you to determine the goals you need to pursue and provides a benchmark to evaluate those goals so you choose the ones that are most optimal for you.

Why do you need a life vision?

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.
Mark Twain

Serves as your internal GPS

A life vision can help you navigate through life and live it more purposefully. Imagine you are driving in busy traffic, clueless about where to go next. You can simply follow the traffic rules, take the roads that are less busy, or follow other drivers. But if you have an exact destination in mind, it will be easy to identify different routes to get there. Eventually, you might be able to reach the desired destination within a reasonable time. A clear vision can help you steer your life in the direction that serves you.

Provides a source of peace

A lot of frustration, stress, and even a quarter-life or mid-life crisis comes from our inability to live true to our values. Deep down we feel misalignment with our beliefs and who we truly are. Maybe we feel that we are capable of doing more, we are not using our potential to the fullest, or we are giving up our priorities to make space for others. It is crucial to self-reflect and to decide how you want to live your life. Knowing that you did what you wanted to do can bring you peace.

Helps to prioritize your wants

A clear life vision can help you make conscious choices and think before committing to any opportunity thrown your way. This does not mean frantically planning your whole life and rigidly scheduling your day hour by hour. Spontaneity is great, but it is even better when coupled with intention and purpose. A vision allows you to prioritize your wants and allocate your energy to things that matter the most to you while still leaving space for adventure.

Allows you to live your own life

Sometimes we get caught up with accomplishing goals and to-do lists that add no value to our life. They are simply meant to meet expectations set by our parents, partners, managers, or society at large. If you have a clear vision that is important to you, then before reacting to what comes your way, you will evaluate and ask yourself if it is something you want to commit to. Your vision helps you to be intentional and create a life you want and on your own terms.

Helps to create value for others

Since your life is not only about you, a life vision helps you think about the legacy you want to leave behind. How do you want to contribute to the world? How can you make someone else’s life a little bit better? How do you want to be remembered by your grandchildren? We get joy from accomplishing our goals as much as from being of help to someone else.

How to design your life vision?

A vision is an ideal person and life that you would like to embody. You get to decide who you want to be and how you want to live your life. So be courageous and imaginative when designing your vision for your future self. You might never reach that ideal state of being, but that’s ok. It is the progress that you should aim for and not perfection. By simply having a vision and doing your best to achieve it, you will have the chance to experience, grow, love, and give back. And don’t feel judgmental, guilty, or selfish for wanting what you want.

Also, instead of equating your life vision to a specific career goal, the desired body weight, or perfect relationship, make it wholistic. Your vision needs to give you a bigger picture of your future – who you want to be and what you want to do in life. Your profession is a vehicle to live your vision. You can choose different vehicles to get to the same destination.

Below are some questions that can set you up in the right direction and help you envision your life and future. If you can’t think of a lifetime vision, think about the next 5 – 10 years. Feel free to ask yourself additional questions.

What are your core values?
What are the things without which you can’t imagine your life?
Who do you want to be in life and why?
How do you want to show up in the world?
What kinds of people do you want to be surrounded by?
What do you hope to achieve and experience in life?
What do you believe you’re capable of in life? What are the greatest things you could accomplish?
What are the things you enjoy doing the most?
What gives you energy?
What areas of your life need the most of your attention?
What are you naturally good at?
What job would you do even if you did not get paid for it?
What would you regret not doing?
What is the legacy that you want to leave behind?
What do you wish you could change about the world?
What do you wish you could change about yourself?
What could you contribute to the world that would make you feel proud and content?
What can you do for others? How can you help and serve other people?

By now you might be noticing some common themes and topics that stand out. Make a mental note of them. Then, answer the below 4 questions to narrow down the future you want for yourself:

Who do you want to become? – visualize an ideal you and determine what is missing.
What do you want to experience in life? – list all the different things and accomplishments you want to have and the relationships you want to build.
What values do you want to live by? – identify the core values that make you who you are.
What kind of legacy do you want to leave? – think of a value that you can create and add to someone else’s life and the environment you are in.

You can also practice below visualization techniques to create a vivid and detailed picture of your future.

Tombstone message

Imagine that you are attending your own funeral and standing among your family and friends who came to honor your life. You are looking at your tombstone and listening to the people discussing your life. What would you want your tombstone to say? How would you like to be remembered by your loved ones? What kind of legacy you would like to leave behind? Write an imaginary caption that describes how you want to be remembered, and what you hope to achieve by the time you die. Then, write what your tombstone might say if you were to die today. Take a look if there is any discrepancy between the two messages and determine what you need to do to bring them closer to each other. This exercise can help you create a meaningful vision, that will guide your life efforts in a way that serves you and the people who matter the most to you.

Think of your future self

If the idea of the tombstone is too gloomy for you, then imagine your future self. When you are 70-80 years old and you are talking to your grandchildren, what would you tell them about your life? What memorable experiences and life lessons would you share? Would they get excited to hear your stories or feel pity for you? Would you be able to look back and feel content with your life or feel regret for missing the chance to live?

Envision Your Ideal Life

Another approach to thinking about your vision is to visualize your perfect life. Sit in a quiet place, close your eyes, and imagine your ideal life in detail. Allow yourself to dream big without any limitations or judgments. What are you doing? What have you accomplished already? Who are you surrounded by? What kind of family do you have? What does your house look like? How do you feel – physically, mentally, and spiritually? What kind of job are you doing? What are you wearing? What do you see, smell, feel, and think? Imagining an ideal life and planning backward can help you break down your vision and take consistent actions toward the life you desire.

At the end of these exercises, you should have a written vision statement that provides,

Clear direction for your future
Relevance to your life
Strong sense of purpose
Fulfillment and inspiration

For example, Oprah Winfrey’s vision is “To be a teacher. And to be known for inspiring my students to be more than they thought they could be.,” while Sir Richard Branson hopes “To have fun in [my] journey through life and learn from [my] mistakes.” You can get ideas and inspiration by reading other people’s vision statements, but you need to design your own vision that best describes your needs, values, and wants for the future.

How to use your life vision regularly?

Your vision can be the source of daily motivation and energy and help you take incremental but consistent actions toward your dream life. Remind yourself of the final destination you are working towards by,

Visualizing your life vision vividly first thing in the morning and the last thing before bed.
Making your vision part of your daily meditation practice.
Writing about your vision in your daily journal.
Integrating your vision into your morning or evening routine.
Designing a vision board for your ideal life and regularly looking at it.
Asking yourself if your daily actions are in line with your vision.
Looking at your vision every time you feel lost or uninspired.
Telling about your vision to your partner and friends.
Revising your vision as your priorities change.

Your time can help you make more money, but your money can’t buy you more time. So, design a vision that is worth investing your time in. As Paulo Coelho wrote, “And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

The next step is to set actionable goals that can help you move your vision from your imagination into your reality.

This post is part of the 5-Step Guide to Personal Development blog series.

Do you have a vision for your future? Do you keep your vision in your mind or write it down somewhere? Share your thoughts and tips below so we can learn from each other.