My eyes take in the greens and blues of this beautiful landscape as I hike to the crest of the Smoky Mountains, I take in a deep breath of clean air mixed with the woodsy scents and gratitude washes over me. Gratitude for the abundance I now have. My life journey is ever expanding and it is an exciting journey. I realize that so many lessons I learned from my own life and from having my own coach have propelled me into the success I am now enjoying both in my life and in my business. What freedom to take a long hike in the middle of a weekday with confidence that my business will continue to flourish because I take this time to refresh myself. What a life!

I love to create vision statements. I like looking into the future and dreaming. I have always enjoyed stories. I can come up with a story for any situation. It is nice to have a story with a purpose. With the purpose of your future.

If you can’t imagine it you can’t get to it.

It takes some insight to come up with these stories.  Once you know who you are and why you work you can start to see a future. I think people stay on the same path because they can’t imagine anything else. I help my clients with that.  I help them look at their current lives, look at who they are and where they want to go.

It seems simple. It is once you know yourself.

As a child we were constantly asked what do we want to be when we grow up. That is a lot of pressure. We are asked this when we haven’t really experienced the world and all the possibilities out there. No wonder the main jobs are policeman, fireman, doctor. These are the professions we are exposed to at an early age. How many times, as a kid, do we see something and think I want to do that when I grow up.

Think back. What did you want to be when asked as a kid?

I never thought about what I wanted to be. Never. I guess I was too busy surviving my childhood. I never took the time to dream and think about my future, I just grabbed anything that came my way.

I went to college not knowing what to do, so when someone suggested business I started in that direction.  I was ready to quit in my second year because I hated the classes. I really love to learn and I enjoyed school most of my life. I was miserable as a business major.  I didn’t quit instead I started to explore different options. I graduated with a BA in communications and a minor in business.  I found my path to a career in film production.

That plan served me well until it didn’t. When I was finished with film production I was lost again. What was I going to do now? I had no direction.It was time to figure it out. I worked hard to find what I wanted. I found coaching and vision statements.

I had never done a vision statement before. I started to dream and to write a story about what I thought my future could look like in a different profession-as a coach. It took some thought and some editing. I came up with a great story about my future. It included things I love in work and life. I even put house sitting in as one of the things I was doing. Within three months of writing that vision statement I was house sitting.

So how do you do it?

Start by writing down notes:
What do you want in your life?
What do you want in your work?
How do you want your days and weeks to look?

Take yourself 5 years in the future.
Really imagine it.
Where will you be living?
What will you be wearing?
What are you doing?
Hiking? Biking? Swimming? Traveling?
Who are you with?

 

Read your vision out loud

  • How do you feel?
  • Do you want to be there?
  • How do you get there?

 

 

I am on my way to realizing my vision.
How about you?