Your Vision is Actually the Spotlight for Your Actions

Maybe you’ve had similar experiences to what I had as a kid living on a wheat and cattle ranch in Montana.  The place was way out in the country far from any artificial light diluting the sky.

 

Translation—it was pitch, black dark at night.  When there was no moon and even though the sky was white with stars, I couldn’t see my hand in front of me.

The bad news is we had no running water.  Yes, you guessed it!  That meant “the facility” was an outhouse!  Furthermore, it was located about 30 yards up behind the ranch house!

Try taking that action when your vision is impaired by total darkness!

  

When I left the ranch house my vision was to get to the outhouse for the obvious reason.  It was that vision that drove my actions. 

I spotlighted the route to my vision (the outhouse) by using a very bright flashlight as an additional aid.

Have you ever had to take some action when you were totally in the dark?  To say it is a challenge is a major understatement!

Well, my trip to the outhouse can serve as an excellent metaphor to illustrate your vision is, actually, the spotlight for your actions.  If you are totally in the dark about what the vision for your life is, you might stumble and fall through a hole in the outhouse of life!

There is a simple thing you can do to assure that never happens.  Let’s put a spotlight on it so you can improve the clarity of your vision.

Begin with the end in mind.

That simple thing in creating a vision with spotlight-like clarity seems contradictory.  I mean…if you’re going to start something, why would you start at the end?

Well, that’s exactly what your vision is.  It clearly communicates to you what your desired outcome(s) is at some future date.  The end date for your current vision should be 3-5 years down the road.

Your goal is to express your vision in 2-3 sentences…no more.  Your vision is not a master’s thesis in length!  

It is a sharp, bright, clear spotlight of what you want to be, do or have in 3-5 years.

The following are questions you may want to ask yourself that will lead you to composing your 2-3 sentence vision statement.  Provide your answers to at least the 4 that most resonate with you and your purpose for wanting to create a vision statement.

• What are the most important personal attributes I want to consistently exhibit?
• Who are the most important people in my life whom I want my vision to impact?
• What do I want to be?
• What do I want to do?
• What do I want to have?
• Why do I want to be, do or have those things noted in the previous three questions?

Here’s an example of a vision statement generated from answering some of the above questions:

My vision is to be a loving, honest, engaged, committed husband and father to my family.  I will provide for them maximal personal and financial growth to help create a life of happiness and stability.

Obviously, your vision statement will probably be totally different because it will reflect your answers to the above questions.  Regardless, the point is your vision statement puts the spotlight on what you want to be, do and/or have so you can create specific plans for realizing the vision.

Living your life to the fullest is all about the actions you take.  

The actions you take must have a source of focus and motivation.  

The source for that focus and motivation is the spotlight of your vision.

By when will you create your vision for the future?  After you have created your vision, what will be the first step you will take in building your plan for realizing the vision?

Please share your thoughts by commenting below.  

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Thank you.