Check Your Vision
“Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.”
This is the season for resolutions, goals setting, resetting our focus and planning for the rest of the year. I may be but a little late in writing this blog post but better late than never. How has the month of January been for you? Did it start off on a positive note with you being full of energy, hope and optimism? Or has it been a challenging start given the issues you were facing last year have also followed you into the new year? On the personal front, it has been a bit of both for me. I am definitely seeing growth in my coaching business and my legal consulting work is also steady at the moment. Health wise, I could be doing better and my elbow injury still acts up every now and again if I am not careful with it. It’s also been a challenging time for my teenage son with his college applications and a rushed hospital visit to have a procedure done on his feet to cure an infection. January has been extremely busy for me on all fronts. I know that I cannot keep up this pace for the entire year!
The busyness served as a good reminder to me to find time to settle down and rethink my vision for this year. What do I want to see happen by the end of this year? What would make the year fulfilling and successful for me when I arrive at 31 December 2022?
What about you?
Are you also being pushed along by the obligations and pressures of life? Are you allowing other less important things to get in the way of accomplishing what you really want? Perhaps, it’s time to do a VISION check. Just as it is important to get our eyes checked regularly to ensure that we will be able to see clearly, it is equally important to do a VISION check to be certain that we are living our lives aligned with our purpose and goals.
VIVID PICTURE
Have you created a vivid picture in your imagination as to what your completed goal will look, feel, and sound? Have you added sensory details, paying particular attention to what emotions you will experience when you have achieved your goal? Many people omit this step or they make a half-hearted attempt at it. As a result, their goal is not real to them. We get easily distracted by day-to-day events. This step to have a vivid picture of your goal takes time and thought which is why many people don’t do it. However, if you don’t have a clear picture in your mind as to what you are trying to accomplish, how will you ever attain it? Developing a clear, vivid picture is critical if you want to achieve your goal.
INSPIRATION
Do you feel inspired by your goal? Does thinking about it make you smile? If not, then go back to your vivid picture and change it until you are excited about it. Goals take effort. They often require that we change and do things that may be a stretch for us. If the goal isn’t something you really want in the first place, then why bother trying to achieve it? Connect with why you were inspired to set this goal in the first place.
When you come up with a goal, don’t limit yourself by what you think you can accomplish. Decide what you truly want. Many people have achieved enormous successes in their lives because they had big goals. When you are inspired enough by your dream, you will find a way to make it a reality.
SUSTAINED BELIEF
Do you have a sustained belief you will achieve your goal? If you don’t expect to accomplish your goal, then you probably won’t. Sometimes it takes extraordinary courage to believe, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, that we will be successful. Things go wrong. Problems come up. It is easy to get discouraged. That is the time when you most need to have sustained belief. You can get through the difficult times if you believe you can. People rise to the level of their own beliefs. When you believe you will be successful, then you will eventually achieve what you set out to do.
IDENTIFY
Do you identify with your goal now even though you have not yet achieved it? We must begin to identify with the person we want to become. Once or twice each day, play the picture of your completed goal in your mind. Live your goal in your imagination and experience all of the wonderful emotions that go with it. As you continue to do this, you will find that your thoughts and behaviours become more aligned with the person you will be when you achieve your goal.
OBSERVANT
Are you observant as to what actions that are taking you closer to your goal and those that are moving you further away? When we create an action plan for our goal, some of the ideas included in it will work and others won’t. After you take a specific action, observe the result. If it is positive, then continue to do it. If you don’t get the result you expected then modify it and try again. By being observant about what is working and what isn’t, you can adjust your strategy as needed so that you will continue to move closer to your goal.
NEVER GIVE UP!
Have you adopted a “never give up” attitude? Have you made a decision that you will not quit no matter how long it takes to achieve your goal? If you don’t have this attitude, you might find that obstacles overwhelm you. They might be too difficult to overcome and there is a strong likelihood that you will quit before achieving what you want. However, when you adopt a “never give up” attitude, there is a conviction within you that will carry you through until you reach your goal.
“Goals. There's no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There's no telling what you can do when you believe in them. And there's no telling what will happen when you act upon them.”
-Jim Rohn, American entrepreneur
If you are interested in exploring the VISION of your goals and would like support from me as your coach, I would love to speak to you in a 30-minutes discovery call to see how we can work together.
