Do you know what you want to do with your life? Have you sorted it all out? Or, perhaps you know what your ultimate goals are but you don’t know HOW to achieve them. Creating a personal vision statement is a powerful tool to use to help you reach your dreams. Once you’ve created your personal vision you will know what choices you need to make for your career and your personal life. It’s like shining a torch into the future and lighting the pathway so that you can see where you are going.

Before you write your draft personal vision you need to ask yourself some important questions. Once you have these answers you’ll have a much clearer idea about what you need to do in your life.

Here are some questions to think about:
– What are the 10 things you really enjoy doing? These need to be things that, if you didn’t do them regularly, you’d feel unhappy.
– What are your most important values? Try to find at least 5 of them. Here are some examples of values: honesty, reliability, compassion, open-mindedness, humour, courage, commitment, creativity, respect, passion. There are so many more, so think about the qualities of a person you admire and see if those are the values that are important to you.
– Set ONE goal for each area of these areas of your life: Family, career/work, physical, spiritual, financial, friendships, fun, learning or mental growth
– What strengths do other people say that you have?
– What weaknesses do other people say you have?
– What things do you think you will regret not doing in your life one day when you are very old?

Now that you’ve done all that soul searching, it’s time to create your personal vision statement!

Write statements about what you want to achieve in life. Start with: ‘I want a life that… (e.g. I want a life that includes a loving partner and children. I want a life…)

Once you’ve written all your statements with all the things you want in your life write it all in a paragraph and you have your personal vision statement! A paragraph of about 50 words is usually enough.

Are you struggling? This is the fun bit – think of your ideal life!

Write down what your ideal life would be like if you didn’t have to worry about money, crime or any other negative factors in your life. You wake up one morning and all the things that pull you down are gone. That is your ideal life.

It’s this vision of your life that will help to give it meaning and clarity. Despite all the difficulties that real life presents us with, if we can see beyond them to what we really want, then we can come up with innovative ways to create new opportunities for ourselves.

Make your own reality. Think about what strengths and talents you have and what differences you can make to the world we live in.

Once you’ve written down your goals and written your personal vision statement, don’t throw it away. Keep it and look at it often. Writing your goals and personal vision statement and relooking at them often means that you are more likely to achieve them. Personal vision statements can also change over time so you can go back and rewrite them from time to time. You will be amazed, though, that lots of things will remain the same. Every day will feel good because you know you are working towards your goals.

What would you do with your life if you knew you couldn’t fail? As Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela said, “There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”

Go out there with your personal vision. You can’t make the obstacles miraculously disappear, unfortunately, but with your vision you may work out ways to overcome them creatively. Good luck!

Question: have you worked out a personal vision for your future?