What’s your vision for your life? As you grow, the answers to this question may change. We sometimes take our life’s visions very lightly. I’ve found that this is one reason why some dreams never become real. We may talk about it in passing but sometimes never make it a part of our main focus. There are three steps that can help us transfer our vision to reality; make it plain, turn it into goals, and act.
Making your vision visible makes a great difference. It does not have to be shown to everyone, but it is necessary for you to easily view it so that it is a constant reminder of what you want your life to look like. This representation can be of your long term vision or things you want to accomplish within a few months. It can be very specific to one area of your life such as career or family. It can also be more general and include two or more life areas. There are many methods to making a presentation of your vision. Some of them include, making a list, creating a vision board manually or electronically, or using an app like Pinterest. My favorite is the vision board because it can be comprised of words and pictures, and it can be organized in life areas or just a general placement of all the elements of your vision. Whichever method you choose, be sure to keep it somewhere that is easily accessible so that you don’t lose sight of your vision.
Another step that drives a vision into reality is using it to set specific goals. Goals, that are properly defined, help to make the process of realization clearer, and sometimes easier. Many people use the acronym SMART to describe a well defined goal. This stands for Smart, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound. I go into more details about the characteristics of goals in another post. However, in its simplicity your goals should map out the things that need to be accomplished for you to make the elements of your vision tangible.
The next step to making your vision real is to act. It is important to create a list of action steps that are connected to the goals that you have made. This is the part when the small things really do matter. If one of your goals is to save $10,000 for a down-payment towards a home within the next ten months, then one of your action steps may be to place $1,000 of your income into a savings account for the next ten months. Some goals may only require a single action step. Others may require multiple action steps. Always remember to keep the actions relevant to the goal and do it with the intent of living your vision.
So we can think of our lives as the canvas, visions as the big picture, goals are the different colors and elements of the picture, and actions are the strokes of the brush we use to place those colors and elements onto the canvas to create the picture. I hope the creative in me merged those concepts well enough for you to understand. Always remember to check your vision and determine if your daily actions are helping to make it real.
Here are your Real Keys:
- Make your vision plain by creating a representation of it that is visible and easily accessible.
- Create well defined goals that will make your journey to the vision clear
- Take action steps that are relevant to your goals
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