We were recently interviewed on the Man Fully Alive Ministries Podcast about leadership. One thing that we really hounded on was having a vision. Without a vision, you can’t go anywhere. A vision is that north star out in the distance that directs us to where we want to go, who we want to be. Vision is not just a business term through. Yes, all businesses should have one, but so should every person.
A while back I found myself out of balance. My life was being pulled all over the place and I wasn’t happy. Being pulled in that many directions made me feel like I was broken into pieces, like I couldn’t go anywhere. I felt like I was stuck. So, I did an inventory of my life and priorities. I had to identify all of the things that were pulling me in different directions. That was my current state. Then I looked at what I wanted my life to be, what I wanted my priorities to be and that became my future state, the vision of what I wanted my life to look like.
There is a big chunk between those two though. There are a lot of micro and macro steps needed to get there. This isn’t something to attain in a weekend. This is a transformation of my life. That takes work. I approached it like a children’s lesson, the one where you draw a line between the picture and the word… If I didn’t lay out what sort of things I needed to do, I would not be able to focus my vision into something actionable. You can have a vision for your life, but if you never act on it, then it is really more of a dream than a vision.
The last two items on my self assessment were time wasters and life goals. Time wasters are those things that we have a compulsion to do, but aren’t actually a priority. For example, I feel like I have to stay current on Facebook. That uses a lot of my time and attention, but is’t a life priority like career or family is. So, I listed those out (again, it is important to name them and write them down), and began working on cutting them out of my life. Life goals are big things that I want to achieve. They are the things that I will be proud of when I’m old sitting on my porch with my grand kids. These are the tangible results that will come from me ordering my life properly and achieving my future state.
Below is a picture of my personal life vision. It is taped up in my master bathroom, right by the light switch so I can’t avoid it. It is in my line of site all the time. If this is what I really want to achieve, I need to be focused on it.
Working for my life’s vision of writing stories in a beverage shop that I own.