How to Create a Compelling Vision!

HINT ON CONSUMING THIS BLOG POST - WATCH THE VIDEO FOR A CLEAR VISUAL EXPLANATION, THEN COME BACK HERE TO REVIEW IN WRITTEN FORM.

Welcome back! This week we're going to talk about creating a compelling vision for your life. Before we go there, I want to say a few more words about truth that I failed to mention last week. Starting off, I talked about the “truth will set you free”, but my coach, Michelle Humphrey, also adds, "but first it will stir up your stuff to heal your limitations." Think about that as you're being presented with ideas, and if you're getting stirred up, if you're getting challenged, it's because you've got something to heal around that, whatever that is.

Secondly, we talked about resonance and truth should resonate with you. Another way of saying that is, “if it doesn't feel good, it's not true”. There should be no doubt, no anxiety, no fears about what you're hearing and how it's hitting you. It might stir up your stuff, but it should still feel good.

Finally, I say truth is like a sphere. What I mean by that is, the whole of truth you can't see all at once. So, you need to move around it to see every angle. Your perspective is different from the guy standing to your left, or your right, or above you, or behind the sphere. Move around the sphere so you can take in the entirety of what it is.

What is a life vision?

A couple weeks ago I presented you with a manifesting model for becoming the best version of yourself. If you remember, I said the model that I was taught most of my life is, to get from here to there, you need to build a plan and you then get busy doing, doing, doing. I call this the “Old, Forced Based Model” because it requires a lot of strain and effort, and is not a lot of fun sometimes. How can we make it more fun?

Let's talk about the new model I'm presenting here that we're going to go over in detail in the coming weeks and months. The new model is a Power Based Model that has seven components.

If you recall, the first one was BUILD A GRATITUDE FOUNDATION, and I said, "Hey, get of bed every morning, take note, and write down what you're grateful for that day.” It sets the tone for the day and allows you to have a lot more fun along the way.

The second thing in the model is to ACKNOWLEDGE SOURCE, whatever that is for you. Whether it's Yahweh, or God, or Krishna, whatever your higher power is, acknowledge that because that is the source from which everything comes. Then, I said there are five more components. We're going to get into one of those today, and it has to do with creating a compelling vision for your life. If you remember, a couple weeks ago I said your mission for the week was to write down what you want to be, do, have, and feel in your lifetime. So, the third element of this model is CREAT CLARITY OF VISION. We need to BUILD A GRATITUDE FOUNDATION, ACKNOWLEDGE SOURCE, and then CREATE CLARITY OF VISION. What does that mean?

What's your WHY?

Well, before you can set goals, everybody tends to focus on setting goals, but you need a compelling vision first. What's your why? See below for Simon Sinek's Ted Talk on "How Great Leaders Inspire Action".

In a nutshell, what he says is if you're not clear on your why, you're not going to have a compelling vision. All great organizations or leaders that really inspire people have a compelling why. What's your why? What are you passionate about? What lights you up? What expands you? What are you here to do? What do you feel called to contribute in this life? It's important that you get in touch with that because if you have clarity of vision, you can have a great life.

Your Thoughts Create Your Reality

You only create in life that which is clearly envisioned, and how you clearly envision is through your thinking, and your thoughts create your reality. You have probably heard that before. If you look around yourself and you're not happy with what you see, then the first thing you need to do is look at how you're thinking. I guarantee you that whatever you've been thinking is what you've created. If you want to get really honest with yourself, do this little exercise. Think about where you are now and then think back about five or ten years ago what you were thinking at the time. Did you indeed create what you were thinking about? I think you'll find, more often than not, that you've created exactly what you've been thinking about. If you want to create something different then start thinking differently.

Start with the End in Mind - Life Celebration Party!

We're going to start with the end in mind because that's always the best place to start. Instead of doing what some people suggest which is to write down your eulogy, i.e. what do you want people to say about your funeral which doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me, we're going to visualize having a life celebration party at whatever age you want to have it, 90, 100, 110, whatever you think. You're going to invite a bunch of people, and what are they going to say? You're going to hand them the mic and they're going to say, "You were X and you showed up like this, and you had these kinds of relationships," et cetera, et cetera. We'll go through a few categories here in a below. What do you want people to say at this party about you?

Vision Category 1 - Being - Mind, Body, Spirit, & Emotions

The first area we're going to look at is how are you being? How are you showing up in mind, body, and spirit, and emotion? Are you thoughtful, are you honest, fair, attentive, nurturing, joyful, creative, peaceful, spiritual, humble, intuitive, sensitive? How are you being? You're being, more than anything else, is what rubs off on people around you so it's important that you tune in to how you're being. What is your relationship with time, how do you feel about time? Time is your most precious resource. What are you learning? How are you expanding your mind? Are you exercising? How's your body doing? What is your reputation? What do people say about you?

Vision Category 2 - Relationships

Secondly, let's look at relationships, not only in your immediate family and in your significant other, but your extended family, your community, your country, and the world. What are all relationships that you have, and what are you doing to nurture and grow those relationships in really healthy ways?

Vision Category 3 - Vocation

Third, what is your vocation? What do you do to create income? Income really is just any exchange for value that you're bringing to the world? So, do you bring in enough value to the world? If you don't like your income then look at the value you're bringing to the world and think about how you can bring more value? How can you contribute more so that you can receive more?

Vision Category 4 - Avocation

Fourth, what is your avocation? It’s important to have fun. For me, it's all about sailing and when I have the time, I like to go sailing. What do you like to do? How do you like to relax and enjoy life and all the great things that have been blessed your life?

Vision Category 5 - Finances

Fifth, what's going on with your finances? Are your finances where you want them to be? Where do you want them to be in your vision at your life celebration party? What kind of fortunes do you want to amass so that you can give it away when it's your time to leave?

Vision Category 6 - Lifestyle

Sixth, what is your lifestyle? Where is your home? How are you getting around? What do you do for recreation? What do you do for travel? Wherever you've been, have you created the optimal environment for your life?

Vision Category 7 - Contribution

Finally, what's your contribution? How many people's lives are you going to impact in your lifetime? What is it that you're going to do for them? That really ties back to your why.

Vision Timeframe

The next question I usually get is, "Well, what kind of time frame shall I look at?" Well, I said to think about your life celebration party, and everybody's at a different stage in life. So, if you can think out to when you will be 100 years old, great! Create that vision. If that's too far out, think about a 20 year time horizon and then break it down. What do I need to do three years from now, six years from now, 10 years from now, 15 years from now so that in 20 years I manifest this 20 year vision?"

Keep in mind, you're going to be tweaking, and updating, and revising your vision as time moves forward. So, 20 years is a great working time frame for most people. To help you get started, here is a link to a template that I created to document your vision that you can use and share with others. If you haven't done your homework from 2 weeks ago yet, the first page is general Be, Do, Have, and Feel statements. The second page has rows to cover the categories I outlined above. Don't be limited by what I have in the template. Add as many rows and categories as you feel are needed to cover your life celebration party vision. Most importantly, HAVE FUN WITH IT!

I trust that this has been a good session for you. Dig into some of the questions that are in the blog notes here, download the template, and start documenting your vision. We can't start working on goals for 2018 until you're really clear about where you're going. Have fun with this visioning exercise, and we'll see you back here next week. Bye for now.