The importance of creating your vision!

Visioning is the foundation for your transformational roadmap to living your best life!

You have heard it many times: “You are in charge of your own destiny. You can have anything you want or have ever dreamt of.” But you find yourself stuck and not even remotely receiving all these amazing things you want. So I dare to ask: “Have you set yourself a true vision? Do you know in detail what you want your life to look and feel like?”

1. Visioning is the foundation of all success stories in business.

Businesses create 5 year plans or 10 year plans. These plans clearly describe ‘a future vision’ and follow these up with detailed action plans to achieve these. By manifesting a vision into a 5 year plan, the roadmap to success has been laid and 98% of the time, these goals are hit or exceeded ahead of time. Here is a great example. Adidas is an athletics apparel company and by simply producing more apparel, they know that it won’t suffice to keep delivering a competitive advantage or drive higher margins. So the business has looked at their company values of working ethically, reducing environmental impact, and innovate to drive new product ranges to set their latest vision:

This is a great visioning example from a company that strategically wants to compete within their high pressured market whilst building an irrefutable reputation and loyalty through their environmental policies. Since they have launched this initiative in 2016, they have sold over 1 million pairs of ocean plastic shoes in 2017 with numbers rising rapidly. By using recycled materials they have not only delivered on their company values but ended up saving themselves 21% of production costs compared to using new materials. The latest stats show that they are on a fast-track to beat their 2024 goals. Interim sales goals have been exceeded and the consumer interest in their new product is also higher than anticipated. Speculation is, that they will reach their targets late 2022.

You may think:

“In business plans, they have lots of strategy people and marketing experts and so on, and they will know that they will reach their vision because they know also HOW they can get to this goal. They have so many people involved and they all are specialists and experts in making big corporate vision happen…”

Yes, that does help but it is not the essential part of their success. The essential part is the vision. And manifesting the vision on paper, in this case in the shape of a 8 year plan, is what gave them the drive to aim high. They could not foresee the demand would be so great or that the final production costs were lowered by such a staggering amount. (These two factors would present the ‘How’. They didn't know the ‘How’ before, all they knew is to dig deep into their values and operate within these when setting their new ambitious business vision. 

2. Visioning and goal setting, has proven to create higher income

This example is the mother of all dream-come-true-factories. A couple of decades ago Harvard Business School wanted to conduct a visioning / goal setting study on the Harvard Business School graduating class, to assess how written and planned-for goals affect later outcomes in life.

In the study the graduating class was asked a single question about their goals in life. The question was this:

"Have you set written goals and created a plan for their attainment?"

Prior to graduation, it was determined that:

• 84% of the entire class had set no goals at all
• 13% of the class had set written goals but had no concrete plans
• 3% of the class had both written goals and concrete plans

The results? Well, you’ve likely somewhat guessed it. 10 years later, the 13% of the class that had set written goals but had not created plans, were making twice as much money as the 84% of the class that had set no goals at all.

However, the apparent kicker is that the 3% of the class that had both written goals and a plan, were making ten times as much as the rest of the 97% of the class.

3.  One final example, from my personal life, of how I unknowingly created a vision - and it came true.

A little over 20 years ago, I was a single mom with two children, and wanted my life and my children’s lives to be filled with success and great experiences. I had just lost my company, was finalising a divorce and wasn’t sure how I would be able to keep paying rent. The last thing I wanted to do, was to call my parents and be like:

“Mom, Dad, I have lost my work and my husband and need a place for me and my two kids to live.”

I still had that pride, which meant that I knew I wanted greatness, even if at that point things weren’t going that great. Shortly before losing my business I had bought a red notebook which was lying untouched on my bedside table. In a moment of overwhelm, I took that book and started writing down my vision and dreams.

Here are some of the audacious things I wrote in my note book:

• I noted down how much money I wanted to earn every month. It was a very specific about this out of reach number.
• I wrote down that I wanted my children to have a great education. Not only great but excellent, I wanted them to experience different cultures travel the world, learn piano, play tennis, take part in exchange programs and study abroad, and be able to visit an international boarding school. (We all know they don’t come cheap.) Once more, I was very specific noting down these specific dreams.
• I wrote down that I wanted to take my children and myself on dream vacations to Thailand, Mexico and Cuba and share cultural experiences, from Ballet to visits in Moscow to attending Italian language lessons in Florence and Venice.

These audacious vision I verbalised in my red note-book was so far out of my situation at that point. I still didn’t know how to pay rent after writing my wish-list, but in that moment instead of sinking into despair, I dreamt about all of these things I wanted to experience. I didn’t know how they would come to me.

Shortly after I had a conversation with someone at a social gathering. We spoke about dreams and I told him about my vision setting. He became my mentor who coached me and helped me see the path to my vision when I felt overwhelmed or stuck. Within three years I earned the money I so audaciously had envisioned. My children are travelling the world, have learnt to speak multiple languages and attended that boarding school I had pictured. Neither of them turned into a pro tennis or piano player but they both practiced and trained with joy.

So what to do next?

Whichever example speaks to you better doesn’t matter. The one thing they all have in common is that they prove, that by visioning and defining your dreams into detailed experiences, achievements, financial standings, dream home or vacations… whatever it is, you will achieve and receive.

You are still wondering: “How will I reach these goals just by visioning?”

Here is how:

1. You don’t need to know every step that will lead you ‘There’, but unless you know (and i mean really know - visually and emotionally) what your ‘There’ is, you won’t reach it. No one knows what opportunities are around the corner. You are blind to them until you can identify them as opportunities because they are aligned with your vision. By knowing your ‘There’, you have direction and everything else follows. And the best part is, by identifying your vision, you all of the sudden will find yourself striving into a direction, fuelled with fresh ambition to reach your goals.
2. Seek guidance and advice and surround yourself with people who are supportive of you going after your vision. A mentor or coach can help you organize your actions, can give you a constant objective view of your life, to help keep you on a fast-track to your own stardom. Seek conversations with friends (or new people) who share your ambition, who can share inspiring words.
3. Be active. Only action brings momentum, and your body is equally important as your mind. Make sure you stay active mentally but also physically.

Take advantage of some visioning and mentoring guidance:

We have created a 3 step self paced Visioning exercise, which will help you dream up your vision in detail. Take a leap and give it a go. 

1. Step: Maybe you have your vision and want guidance on taking the right actions steps. Get in touch. SIGN ME UP

2.Step.:Get A free 30 minute coaching call where we can talk about your dreams and give you some solid inspiration on what actions will get you ‘There’. YES I WANT A FREE COACHING SESSION

3. Step: Get support by a coach. We are no fitness or gym instructors but we love our morning kundalini yoga and going for daily walks. An active mind needs and active body to help you maintain your momentum to reach your goals.GET A COACH

Get dreaming about your future.