Do you have one?

A vision.

A picture that you can see clearly of what something in the future looks like.  Not mind reading … more like, “can you see it?”

Let’s word it this way … Do you have a picture in your mind of where you want to be, and even better who you want to be in 10 years?   Could you describe it?

I  recently listened to a speech by Matthew McConaughey where he shared that his hero is himself in 10 years.  He knows he will never reach it perfectly but that picture gives him the vision to strive for.  Every day, every week he aims for that hero.  

You see, we can determine who we want to be.  We can choose characteristics that we want to describe us, and then we can choose to respond in those ways.

Believe it not, I can choose to be kind, grateful, patient, courageous, loving, or authentic.  

We can’t determine the circumstances around us but we sure can determine how we want to respond to them and who we want to be known as.

We can also determine, and create a vision of where we want to go.  

A vision is more than setting goals, it is having a picture that describes those goals and how we will feel when we reach them.

Vision – the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom.

You can create a vision of where you want to go.

A business, whether a corporation or small entrepreneurship, needs a vision.  They need to identify what is they are about.  What is most important to them.  How do they see their mission living out in the visual.  In other words, do their customers and those introduced to their company see what is most important to them and what they stand for?

Here’s the thing … when we don’t know, then we don’t know.

If we don’t know what is most important to us, what our core values are, then we don’t know what to choose to act upon.

Have you ever noticed that you can literally see from a person’s choices or actions what is most important to them?

When others can see your core values by how you live, love, and serve, then you are living out your unique purpose in a way that others can visually see it.  

Could someone identify that in you?

Your vision is being able to clearly describe and see how your why lives out.

You see (see what I did there? Corny, I know …) we can have dreams and goals but when we add vision to them, then they become so much clearer.  The power of pictures gets added.

It is why vision boards are so powerful.

When you add picture to dreams, goals, desires, and the future, well it changes things.

I have heard so many times of people putting pictures on their vision boards and are so surprised that, sooner than they imagined, they reached their goal.  

It’s not magic.  It’s not because they put the picture on the board. 

It’s because they created a vision to go with the goal.  They got clear on the why behind the goal.

When you add the emotional connection to the desired outcome it changes how you show up.

My vision board has words, quotes, and pictures on it.  Even the “picture” of the words that mean alot to me, and describe how I want to respond daily, helps me get super clear on how to show up each day in a way that aligns with what I value the most.

I use words like gratitude, rest, lean in, resilience, designed for more, changing the narrative.  Those are ways I want to be intentional to live out.  They are my vision of who I want to be. 

The picture of a woman leaning gives me a visual of “leaning in” and that is what I want to do in life.  I want to lean in and engage, be present, to the experiences and people around me. 

This week I made a choice to be out of my office for the afternoon and lean in to some time with family and my nieces for the afternoon where they were vacationing nearby.  I had work to do.  I easily could have filled my afternoon doing what I felt I needed to do, but knowing that leaning in was important and that I wanted to build a memory with those two sweet girls helped me respond to what was most important. 

So how do your core values live out?

Do you have a vision for it?

Could you describe it clearly for me?

If not, then take the time.  You won’t regret it.  No only will it give you clarity, but you will notice it changes what your schedule looks like and you will start showing up in align with what is most important.

It will change the decisions and what they look like.

It’ll change what you say yes to and what you say no to.

You will react less, and respond more.