Your personal vision is how you commit to living your life. It influences all areas including family, spirituality, physical well-being, leisure, and work. A clear personal vision is an integration of your abilities, interests, personality, values, goals, skills/experience, family of origin, and stage of adult development. That’s huge!
If you have a personal vision, you will have a guide for decisions,become meaning-driven and inner-directed,think in the long-term, and maintain balance in your life.
We know this because we see it with those who take the Highlands Ability Battery (HAB) and participate in the Personal Vision program and Talent Development workshops.
Studies consistently show that this one factor, personal vision, is more important in both success and satisfaction than any other factor – more important than intelligence, socio-economic background, or education.
With a personal vision, you will be able to work within something we call the balance cycle rather than in a stress cycle. In the balance cycle, you will be more satisfied, more productive, and experience more meaning and enjoyment. In comparison, without a personal vision, you could end up in the stress cycle where you experience more burnout and often feel as though your efforts are wasted and lack meaning.
Now that you see the importance of having a personal vision statement and living in a Balance Cycle, how do you get there? Well, to start off, you need to write a paragraph or two outlining your values, your natural abilities, and your goals, among other things. Then, you reference it regularly and take steps toward fulfilling that vision. Again, this is something we do in our Personal Vision Workshops, but you can also do this same exercise with a coach or therapist.
To help you see how a personal vision could work, let’s look at some sample personal vision statements to inspire your own.
Personal Vision Example #1
I will live each day as though I had all the power and influence necessary to make it a perfect world. Through listening to and serving others, I will learn new ideas and gain different perspectives. I will strive to gain mastery over life’s challenges through increasing my circle of influence and de-emphasizing those areas of concern over which I have no control.
I will behave in a manner so as to become a light, not a roadblock, for others who choose to follow or lead me. I will trust my dreams and be the prisoner of nothing. I will use my private victories unselfishly by trying to create value for others. The pursuit of excellence will determine the options I decide to exercise and the paths I choose to travel. I will expect no more of others than I expect of myself.
I will seek new sources for learning and growth – nature, family, literature, new acquaintances. I will show love rather than expect love. I choose to focus upon being effective versus efficient. I choose to make a difference in this world.
Personal Vision Example #2
To be the person my children look to with pride when they say, “This is my dad.” To be the one my children come to for love, comfort, and understanding. To be the friend known as caring and always willing to listen empathetically to their concerns.
To be a person not willing to win at the cost of another’s spirit. To be a person who can feel pain and not want to hurt another. To be the person who speaks for the one that cannot, to listen for the one that cannot hear, see for the one without sight, and have the ability to say, “You did that, not I.”
To have my deeds always match my words through the grace of God.
Personal Vision Example #3
My personal vision is to have a life of meaning for myself and others. It is important to me to live my life in a way that shows kindness, care, and concern for family and friends and even strangers. Earn respect for myself based on a recognition of my accomplishments and abilities, maintains a sense of appreciation of the beauty of nature, and a sense of humor.
I want to have a career/life that includes constant learning and improvement for myself, but that also creates an atmosphere of pleasurable learning and improvement for others. I want to work with and around people, and it is important to me that they like me; but it is even more important to me that they feel that I have helped them in some way – not necessarily that I do a specific good deed, but more that some kindness or thoughtfulness or wisdom of mine has touched them.
With these examples, you are ready to create your own personal vision. Here’s to your success!