part0015

Without a vision, you will have no purpose when you wake up, other than to just survive the day and no ambition to be the best you. You will still get up and do things, but they will not be creating what you want in life. Think of any time you had a clear picture of what you wanted. Maybe it was saving a certain amount of money for a new car.

When you wake up with a clear vision of saving money, the job you don’t really like doesn’t seem as bad because you know the purpose of it: to provide you income to save for the new car. Skipping coffee that day isn’t a big deal because you saved some money towards the car.

With a clear vision, you can’t wait to get up, and you almost don’t want to go to bed because you maximize each second of the day to living a life you love. You don’t waste years of your life trying to figure it all out. This isn’t to say that you won’t modify your vision and goals through your learnings. You will, but the changes will always ensure you continue on your path to a life you love, not reinventing life because you have been living one that you are dissatisfied with.

If you believe it is possible then it is, but not without having a clear and powerful vision. Just believing is not enough to get you to your ideal life. Belief plays a big part in your vision, but it takes strategic planning just like anything worth accomplishing. A vision really starts with how you want to be, followed with what you want to do, and then what you want the results of your actions to be. It starts with you because you control everything about you.

I always start with a 10 year vision. Obviously any number of years could work, but 10 years is a great milestone. Can you think of what you have accomplished in the last decade? Take a moment and really think about it. Maybe you just realized that a decade has passed you by and you have simply survived it but not thrived in it.

Just imagine the results you could create if you would simply get serious and focus on the life that you want. I personally experienced Chip Wilson go from owning a small business to becoming a billionaire in a decade. Maybe you can too!

So what exactly is a vision, and how do you create one that will change your life? For simplicity sake, it is a snapshot of a typical day in your life 10 years from now. Your vision is written with so much clarity and vividness that any person reading it could visualize it as if they were there with you.

To provide this type of clarity write your vision with as much detail as possible. Describe the area where you live, your style of house, what time you wake up, the colors, what you drive, the smells, etc. Make it real, very real in your mind.

Your vision should get you excited, stir up your emotions, and maybe even make you a little nervous. This is the right time in your life to be completely selfish and consider only what you truly want. Before you start writing out your vision I want to address the fact you may have a significant other or kids and will want to instinctively write your vision taking into account everything you know they want to do in life also.

I have to stress the importance of writing this vision for you and only you. Obviously you put in there your spouse and kids, but if the family wants to go to Walt Disney world in ten years and you don’t, please do not put it in your vision. Right now, it is all about you. This is done so you can be the happiest you can be for yourself and ultimately for others.

No one can design your life but you since you are the only one who truly knows what you want. It may be layered underneath a mountain of personal baggage, limiting beliefs and self-doubt, but it is there. Your vision is your blueprint for the success and happiness in your life. This is the piece of paper you will be referring to regularly to determine how you are progressing towards that vision, just like a contractor does with his blueprints. Without regular review how would you know where you are at in the development of your ideal future? Here is a sample of a great vision to act as a guide:

I wake up in my king size bed to the sun slowly filling the room. I slip out from under my Egyptian cotton sheets and toss on my favorite pair of 7 For All Mankind jeans. I open the blinds to expose my floor to ceiling windows and bask in the warmth. I look back to see my wife peacefully sleeping and I quietly sneak out of the room. Neither of us works for anyone, but ourselves so there is no need for her to rush getting up. I can hear my kids are up and bustling around, getting ready for school. I give each one a hug as I do every morning.

While they are eating I blend up an awesome smoothie with vanilla protein powder, mixed berries, hemp seeds, spinach and some flax. I toss a few pieces of bread in the toaster to have my favorite PB and honey. I love having this breakfast before my morning workout. The kids head out the door at 8:30am being we are only two blocks from the school.

I take a look at the family calendar to see what kid has what sport that night. As I enjoy my breakfast, my wife joins me in our spacious dining room which also has floor to ceiling windows facing south. I love my windows. I kiss my wife goodbye as I head out the door to my local gym. I hop into my black Escalade with 24” rims, turn on some hip hop and visualize my workout during the drive. Today, like every day, I am going to make every rep count and get in and get out.

After I get done my morning workout I head home to my office. I run a successful online business that creates a six figure a year income and allows me to work whenever and wherever I want. There are many different revenue streams that come in and today I am focused on my affiliate marketing. I have the freedom to create my day. I sit down in my luxurious black leather chair and turn on the back massager. I pull out my laptop and get to “work.” After I get done checking emails and updating a few websites, it is time for a late lunch.

My wife and I decide to go out and enjoy a nice steak and crab lunch together to plan the next family vacation and of course a vacation just for us. I spend the rest of the afternoon reading on my patio so I can continue to grow my business. I am enjoying the classic Crucial Conversations as it is filled with timeless principles. When the kids get home from school I help out with homework, we prepare our dinner and then head out for a night of activities. Once we get home it is after 8:30pm and it is time for bedtime snacks, showers and stories. I tuck my kids in every night that I possibly can. My wife and I end the evening by cuddling up in front of our 80” Samsung to enjoy our favorite reruns of The Big Bang Theory and then head to bed around 11pm.

You could even add more detail than what this one shows, whatever you need to do to make you feel and see it. Now this vision is not meant to be copied, as it is important you write your vision for you. It is your vision, not your parents’ or wife’s or friends’ or any other people who influence your life. You need to remove all the stories you think others have about you or what they expect of you and truly set your vision for you and your happiness.

Others do not know what is best for you, you do. When you read your significant other’s vision someday do not be surprised if it looks very different than yours. Just because you live in the same house does not mean you envision the same life.

Practice limitless thinking when writing your vision. Anything is possible, and there is no telling what the future could hold. If you know you would love to have a certain type of career that as far as you know doesn’t even exist then create it within your vision. Did anyone know you could have a career in social media management? Not until someone created social media. You have it in you to live the life you want.

To write your vision you will want to find a quiet place free of distractions. This may not be your home depending on the situation. You want to be able to totally relax, play some of your favorite calming music and dream big. Allow yourself to be fully present in the moment. Make sure to bring your journal, a couple pens, some tea, water, an MP3 player with headphones or docking station and your imagination.

I want you to read through the questions below to start getting your mind active. Then take a few deep breaths, close your eyes, ask yourself the following questions and activate all your senses. If it helps, record yourself saying the questions on your phone and play them back.

● Imagine what your ideal life looks like: what are the sounds and smells that surround you? Imagine who you are choosing to be to live this life. What color, size, style is your house? What time do you wake up and what do you do, where do you go in your day? Where do you live, by the ocean, in the mountains or in the city? Imagine why you want to live this life? What does the success feel like in this ideal life?

At the end of your visualization, I want you to record everything you felt and the images you saw in your journal in no particular order and with as much emotion as you can. These are your raw, uninhibited feelings about what is possible, and before your mind has a chance to try and justify why it can’t happen get those dreams on paper. You should almost write at a frenzied pace because it just has to get out of you.

A great tool to reinforce your written vision is to create a vision board. This is a pictorial representation of your vision. Take the time to collect photos and quotes that really show what it is you want out of life. I like to use a bulletin board so I can remove and update pictures as needed and switch up quotes. I also don’t settle for ‘close enough,’ and depending on the goal I will have someone draw exactly what I want. I need to see the visual image. If you want to build a certain type of house then start designing it now and post those designs on your board. Post a pic of one of the greatest times in your family’s life. The list goes on; just make sure the pictures excite you. This triggers your RAS which is exactly what we want.

Goal setting is an effective tool on its own but without marrying goals to your vision, they will lack effectiveness. Your vision actually contains all of your goals which is why we write it first. Write your vision so you are creating not just dreaming. So many people spend their life dreaming of what they want while others make it their reality.

It is a simple difference. One group wrote down their vision, strategized, planned and executed it, one group didn’t. It’s so simple yet so many people never bother to make the effort to do the work needed for success. Take a moment to celebrate making the effort to create your vision.

“Create your future from your future, not your past.” - Werner Erhard

Take everything you wrote down from the previous questions and create a detailed 10-year vision. Now you can structure all those feelings into a powerful vision. This is the first copy so let it flow. Once you are done writing it, reread it a couple times and see how it feels. Rewrite it as needed. You should end up with a piece of paper that clearly illustrates your every desire.