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Vision
— And Creating the Future You Most Want
The future is not some place we are going to, To create what you truly want, start at the end, with a clear, compelling vision of the result you want to create. This might not be as easy as it sounds. “Learning what to want,” said Sir Geoffrey Vickers, in Freedom in a Rocking Boat, “is the most radical, the most painful, and the most creative act in life.” Part of the difficulty stems from confusion around the word “vision.” It is often used interchangeably with “purpose,” “goal,” or “mission.” Although there are similarities between these, it helps to clarify their specific meanings.
Imagine a couple who desire to create a simple, ecologically responsible, and successful life and business. “Our PURPOSE,” they say, “is to create a simple yet rich life, in harmony with the systems that sustain all life, and to help others do the same.” “Our MISSION is to make simple, affordable, eco-friendly housing available to everyone in our bioregion who wants it.” “Our GOALS are to design and build an eco-friendly home, develop an ecohousing business, write a book and offer workshops on eco-housing.” Because a VISION is a clear, compelling mental picture of a result you want to create, it can be applied to each of the other three. It asks the question, “What would it look like if I created the result I want? What would it look like if I achieved my purpose? My mission? My goals? A vision of a desired result generates energy. It inspires you to greater effort. It helps you see where you are relative to where you want to be. Getting Started: An Example Three questions can help you clarify a vision of what you want to create.
Try this. Choose a simple, tangible result you want to create. Write the result at the top of a sheet of paper. Below it, write two short paragraphs. In the first, list the reasons why you want to create this result. This helps you discern if this is a creation you want for its own sake, or something that supports a more important result. In the second paragraph, describe what your result would look like if you actually created it. Be specific. How big is it? What color? What features does it have? What makes it unique? How does it make you feel? If your result is non-physical, such as a job or relationship, describe the aspects and qualities that make it what you want. Describe any result as if you already completed it. Here’s an example of how Richard, an engineer. answered these question, and reinvented himself and his life:
I want the challenge of building a great bike cheaply. I want to get in shape and be healthy. I want to live simply, drive less, and create less pollution. I want to spend time outdoors, not money on gas. I want to have fun exploring the trails up behind my house with my friends.
The bike is a silver-grey, dual-suspension, aluminum-framed bike with carbon forks, grip shifters, top of the line Shimano drive train, and an independently suspended crank. It weighs 25 pounds and cost less than $500. I love riding it and feel proud that I made it myself. Vision acts as an attractor. It draws you forward. When held in tension with current reality, it generates energy needed to organize decisions and action in support of what matters. A vision provides a clear picture and criteria against which to measure progress and success. Always use “vision” as in, “a vision of a desired end result.” A vision is not a thing in itself. It is not an affirmation you put out to the universe and passively expect to receive results in return. It’s a clear, compelling description of a result that you care enough about to act on and create. Vision can be a unifying force. It helps you focus values and organize actions. Some visions, such as for your life, or career will be large and all encompassing. Others, such as a vision of a cottage, or a book you want to write, will be smaller. Others, such as a garden, or birthday party for a friend, will be smaller yet. You need a vision for each result you want to create. Vision can also be an impelling force. It motivates and empowers you. It helps you persevere in the face of difficult circumstances and adversity. It enables you to stretch beyond limits and produce extraordinary results. Over time, specific results you create will organically accumulate into the life you envision vividly in your mind. The rest of your life could turn on a vision you craft today, tomorrow, or over the next few weeks. After he built his bike, Richard radically refocused his life. He built more bikes, which he sold to friends. Emboldened by that success, he quit his engineering job, downsized to a smaller house, opened a small shop, and began living a simple, yet rich, and fully engaged life as a custom bike builder. “I am happy now,” he says. “Happier by far than when I was engineering and had no time to get out on the trails with friends. Now people pay me to take them out riding. It is just awesome.”
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Editor's
note: The author is a Personal/Professional Coach with 20 years
experience. He helps people who are stuck, stalled, or
drifting to shift from solving problems to creating what
matters most to them in life, work, and everything.
This piece was excerpted from his book Simplicity and
Success: Creating the Life You Long For. He is also the
author of the eBook Emotional Mastery: Manage Your Moods
and Create What Matters—With Whatever Life Gives You! 
The
Concise Oxford defines them so:
