How to Create a Vision for the Life You Want

Creating a compelling vision of the life you want is actually one of the most effective strategies for achieving the life of your dreams. Perhaps the best way to look at the concept of a life vision is as a compass to help guide you to take the best actions and make the right choices that help propel you toward your best life.

Why you need a vision

Experts and life success stories support the idea that with a vision in mind, you are more likely to succeed far beyond what you could otherwise achieve without a clear vision. Think of crafting your life vision as mapping a path to your personal and professional dreams. Life satisfaction and personal happiness are within reach. The harsh reality is that if you don’t develop your own vision, you’ll allow other people and circumstances to direct the course of your life.

How to create your life vision

Don’t expect a clear and well-defined vision overnight – envisioning your life and determining the course you will follow requires time and reflection. You need to cultivate vision and perspective, and you also need to apply logic and planning for the practical application of your vision. The best vision blossoms from your dreams, hopes, and aspirations. It will resonate with your values and ideals and will generate energy and enthusiasm to help strengthen your commitment to explore the possibilities of your life.

READ MORE: 3 Steps to Bring Your Vision to Life

Permission to dream the dream

Focus on the ‘what’ not the ‘how’. We’re so busy fast-tracking trying to work out how we are actually going to bring something to life, rather than giving ourselves permission to simply dream about what life could look like.

ASK: What is it that I want for myself? You can work out the roadmap later. Sit in the dream space.

What do you want?

The question sounds deceptively simple, but it’s often the most difficult to answer. Allowing yourself to explore your deepest desires can be very frightening. You may also not think you have the time to consider something as fanciful as what you want out of life, but it’s important to remind yourself that a life of fulfilment does not usually happen by chance, but by design.

It’s helpful to ask some thought-provoking questions to help you discover the possibilities of what you want out of life. Consider every aspect of your life, personal and professional, tangible and intangible. Contemplate all the important areas, family and friends, career and success, health and quality of life, spiritual connection and personal growth, and don’t forget about fun and enjoyment.

READ MORE: What do you want a little more of in this season of your life? What do you want a little less of?

Some tips to guide you:

• Remember to ask why you want certain things
• Think about what you want, not what you don’t want
• Permit yourself to dream
• Be creative. Consider ideas that you never thought possible
• Focus on your wishes, not what others expect of you

Some questions to start your exploration:

• What really matters to you in life? Not what should matter, what does matter
• What would you like to have more of in your life?
• Set aside money for a moment; what do you want in your career?
• What are your secret passions and dreams?
• What would bring more joy and happiness into your life?
• What do you want your relationships to be like?
• What qualities would you like to develop?
• What are your values? What issues do you care about?
• What are your talents? What’s special about you?
• What would you most like to accomplish?
• What legacy would you like to leave behind?

It may be helpful to write your thoughts down in a journal or creative vision board if you’re the creative type. Add your own questions, and ask others what they want out of life. Relax and make this exercise fun. You may want to set your answers aside for a while and come back to them later to see if any have changed or if you have anything to add.

Create clarity

Write down the things that are most important to you in your life, and also write freely about the things you would like to have in your life.

And then once you’ve got this on paper, you have an opportunity to sift and sort until you have some clarity about the things that are most important. Go with your gut. As you go through this stream of consciousness exercise, you will get a hit of butterflies in your stomach or excitement in your chest, maybe a sense of nervousness and that’s okay. That is your guide.

What would your best life look like?

Describe your ideal life in detail. Allow yourself to dream and imagine, and create a vivid picture. If you can’t visualise a picture, focus on how your best life would feel. If you find it difficult to envision your life 20 or 30 years from now, start with five years – even a few years into the future will give you a place to start. What you see may surprise you. Set aside preconceived notions. This is your chance to dream and fantasise.

A few prompts to get you started:

• What will you have accomplished already?
• How will you feel about yourself?
• What kind of people are in your life? How do you feel about them?
• What does your ideal day look like?
• Where are you? Where do you live? Think specifics, what city, state, or country, type of community, house or apartment, style and atmosphere.
• What would you be doing?
• Are you with another person, a group of people, or are you by yourself?
• How are you dressed?
• What’s your state of mind? Happy or sad? Contented or frustrated?
• What does your physical body look like? How do you feel about that?
• Does your best life make you smile and make your heart sing? If it doesn’t, dig deeper, and dream bigger.

It’s important to focus on the result or at least a way-point in your life. Don’t think about the process of getting there yet—that’s the next step. Permit yourself to revisit this vision every day, even if only for a few minutes. Keep your vision alive and in the front of your mind.

Consider these questions

• If you could have anything in the world right now, what would you ask for?
• If you could give up one thing that was weighing you down, what would it be?
• What gives you positive energy?
• What tracts from your energy?
• What are the values that you hold most sacred?
• If you followed the joy in your career and your life, where would it lead you?
• What is your definition of success?
• What is your greatest dream for your work?
• What is your greatest dream for your life?
• What does your ideal day look like?

Emotionally fuel the vision

Pick one thing on your list that you would like to bring into your life and start to emotionally fuel that vision. Let’s say it’s balance that you really want to create, that you want to have some space to breathe, to grow, to create, to enjoy your life.

Ask yourself as you go through this, what would balance look like in your life? Start to bring the emotion into it so that it’s not just an exercise on paper, but that you’re really feeling into it. Put this question on a post-it note so you see it frequently.

Plan backwards

It may sound counter-intuitive to plan backwards rather than forwards, but when you’re planning your life from the result, it’s often more useful to consider the last step and work your way back to the first. This is a valuable and practical strategy for making your vision a reality.

• What’s the last thing that would’ve had to happen to achieve your best life?
• What’s the most important choice you would’ve had to make?
• What would you have needed to learn along the way?
• What important actions would you have had to take?
• What beliefs would you have needed to change?
• What habits or behaviours would you have had to cultivate?
• What type of support would you have had to enlist?
• How long will it take you to realise your best life?
• What steps or milestones would you have needed to reach along the way?

Get creative

This is where you get to have some fun.  We know from positive psychology and neuroscience that positive images pull us forward. That’s why you hear so many people talking about the power of visualisation. It’s time to create a visual representation of your vision and the core elements that you have written down. You can use a journal, an online tool like Pinterest or Canva, or my personal favourite, a vision board.

It doesn’t need to make sense to anybody else. It doesn’t need to be literal. Let it help pull you into the future that you want to create for yourself.

Start bringing your vision to life

Now that you have some more clarity, pick one thing from your vision list and find a small way to bring it into your life each day for one week. If it’s the balance you’re looking for, tweak your schedule to free up some 10-minute blocks for restoration, to bring yourself back to yourself and back to that sense of balance.

Now notice here that I’ve said pick one thing because we often feel like we need to change our whole life in a minute. And not only is it not possible, but it’s way too much pressure.

READ MORE: 5 tips on how to build a life you don’t want to escape from

Ponder the gap between where you are now and where you want to be in the future. It may seem impossible, but it’s quite achievable if you take it step-by-step.

It’s important to revisit this vision from time to time. Don’t be surprised if your answers to the questions, your technicolour vision, and the resulting plans change. That can be a very good thing; as you change in unforeseeable ways, the best life you envision will change as well. For now, it’s important to use the process, create your vision, and take the first step towards making that vision a reality.

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