Your purpose is what you’re doing it all for. Your big picture. Your vision. When you have the vision you’re striving towards clearly set in your mind it makes it a little more difficult to fall back into bad habits. A vision statement works like an anchor, so that you don’t stray too far from the plan.
Now I’m not saying having a vision statement means you’ll never get distracted from the plan, but having a vision statement can definitely inspire us to get back on track a lot more quickly, serving as a reference point to prevent us from spiraling ever downward when we do fall of the tracks. A vision statement reminds us about where we should be placing our attention.
I wanted to mention that a vision statement and mission statement are often used interchangeably however there is a slight difference. A mission statement highlights the steps or practices or values that you will need to apply daily to get you to your desired future. The practices or ‘mini-goals’ of the last post would be your mission which you could then tailor into a statement. A vision statement outlines the ideal future that will come from the execution of your mission.
Here is my mission statement: “To live a life committed to happiness, freedom, movement, health and self-development through daily focused practice in these areas. “
Here is my vision statement: “I live a life filled with happiness and love. I’m always improving in the areas of movement and self-development and I feel passion when I have the opportunity to help others to do the same. I capitalize off of my natural strengths and abilities which allows me to live a life of financial and physical freedom. “
A vision statement outlines how you see your ideal future. Some elements to consider when crafting your vision statement are: What are your core values? What activities bring you joy? What skills do you want to improve upon in your life? You don’t need to include every core value or every single thing you want to do in your life, but it should highlight what is most important to you. It might only end up being a sentence or two or it may be a whole page long, what matters is that it is concise and that it resonates with YOU.
If your vision statement is something that can easily be learned by heart all the better, because the deeper your vision is lodged in your subconscious the better chances of success, so learn your vision statement and repeat it to yourself… often.
It’s important that you write your vision statement in the present tense regardless of if you haven’t achieved it yet, this allows your visualization to be more relevant. Metaphysics states that ‘Like attracts like’ so if you visualize about your desires as if you already have them while you make daily steps towards your goal, it will yield better results, compared to always thinking about your goal as something to be obtained in the future. If you do that you are always in a state of “wanting” which may inadvertently slow down the process of actualizing your goals by keeping you in the state of “wanting” or “wishing” (like attracts like).
Don’t worry about trying to craft the perfect vision statement because your desires and goals may change over time. We’re ever evolving people and so our vision statement should reflect that. Think of your vision statement as a working copy.
You may not even know what you want for your future, if that’s the case then maybe this article came at the right time because bringing purpose to your life can bring about a new found sense of fulfillment into your life rather than feeling like you’re just going through the motions of life: work – eat – sleep – repeat is not a sustainable plan for long term happiness (for most anyway).
Now its your turn. Use what I’ve shared in this and the last two posts to help you create a vision statement, it may take you awhile so take your time but don’t take so long that you never finish, remember its a working copy so you can always make changes later if necessary. All too often the desire for perfection hinders progress so just get started.
If you need help creating a mission or vision statement feel free to reach out to me!
