Developing a vision for your life can be daunting. In my experience, however, I’ve found that the most successful people I encounter do two things very well:
They dedicate time to “lean out” into the future and establish a vision for their life.
They relentlessly refine and execute a plan to fulfill it.
Here’s the deal:
“If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.”
Fortunately, when it comes to creating a personal vision statement there is no time like the present.
Fun fact:
Not long ago I had absolutely no idea what I wanted for my future.
For years I found myself riding a proverbial wave of tremendous business growth and, quite honestly, flying by the seat of my pants. I was extremely overweight and putting out fires 50+ hours per week just to keep my head above water. Relationships with my wife and daughters were strained, and I had no network or peer group to turn to for relief.
It gets worse…
Whatever seemed most important at the moment garnered my attention. Decisions were made in both my personal and professional life based on short term impact with little consideration given to the big picture.
I couldn’t see the forest for the trees.
The tool that changed it all for me
“If you want to teach people a new way of thinking, don’t bother trying to teach them. Instead, give them a tool, the use of which will lead to new ways of thinking.”
In this article, I’m going to share with you both the tool and the processes I devised to organize the many components of my personal vision statement. This tool (or individual components of it while in development) enabled me to lose more than 70 lbs, dedicate more time to cultivating relationships with family and friends, and discover meaningful work through my business, angel investing and philanthropy.
I can only hope that you find as much value in this process as I have.
The Personal Vision Planning Tool
The tool I’ve been touting above is just one page and you can access a Google Sheets template below.
As you can see it consists of the following elements:
Who: Core Values, Strengths, Passions, and Noble Obsession.
What: Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG), 3 Year Snapshot, and Lifetime Wish List.
How: 1 Year Goals and Quarterly Rocks.
The remainder of this article will outline the exercises that I used to fill in this document.
Who: Core values, Strengths, Passions, and Noble Obsession.
Core Values
“A core value is a principle without which life wouldn’t be worth living. ”
Minnesota based Think2Perform had this to say about personal values:
Living in alignment is about matching your “real” behaviors with your “ideal values.” Living out of alignment is a source of stress, dissatisfaction and poor decision-making.
Powerful stuff.
As I reviewed the results of their Values Exercise I realized that my core values (Friendship, Health, Freedom, Happiness, and Education) have played a significant role in shaping many of the goals I have set and achieved in recent years. For instance, my Education core value motivated me to read 25 business books in 2016 while my Health core value helped me lose 70lbs in an 18 month period beginning in 2015.
Given their importance, I found myself referencing these frequently as I progressed through the remainder of this process.
Strengths
Strengthsfinder 2.0 from Gallup and Tom Rath (Amazon’s bestselling nonfiction book as of 2018) provided me with another opportunity for introspection by discovering what I naturally do best via the CliftonStrengths assessment.
I found that reviewing my “top five” signature themes (Restorative, Discipline, Analytical, Significance, Focus) yielded an additional layer of influence as I charted my course to achieving my vision. For instance, the very first sentence of my personalized strengths insights had this to say about my Restorative theme:
It’s very likely that you might want to do something to benefit humankind or protect the environment.
The insight regarding Discipline was also enlightening:
By nature, you like to follow a regular plan for accomplishing the day’s, week’s, month’s, or year’s tasks. You enjoy the efficiency and productivity that comes from using your repetitious processes and systems.
You don’t say?
Note: A free alternative to assessing your strengths is available at https://high5test.com/
Passions
A strong case can be made that the most important part of figuring out how you want to spend your one and only life should be identifying the activities that make you light up — the things you love to do more than anything else.
Using this exercise from O’s 4-Step Guide to Discovering Who You’re Meant to Be I was able to zero in on the activities outlined above. Spending time with friends and family, traveling the world, and personal development are a few of my not-so-unique passions while my Minnesota roots have fueled my unusual passion for the sport of hockey.
Noble Obsession
“If you would find happiness and joy, lose your life in some noble cause. A worthy purpose must be at the center of every worthy life. ”
In How to Develop Your Noble Obsession author Dave Logan shared his thoughts on noble causes and, in taking the concept a step further, noble obsessions. He also provided valuable insight into how I could develop a noble obsession for myself which I distilled down to the following question:
What is it that gets me out of the bed in the morning and/or keeps me up late into the night?
For me the answer was Entrepreneurship, and coincidentally the tagline on my personal website reflects this motivating force that became a conscious consideration throughout the development of my personal vision.
Armed with my core values, strengths, noble obsession, and passions I found that my self-awareness was at an all-time high.
It was time to shift from introspection to visualization.
Bonus: For another approach check out this exercise from Day 14 of Dave’s 21 Day Leadership Challenge.
What: Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG), 3 Year Snapshot, and Lifetime Wish List.
Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG)
“You must focus on ends, rather than means.”
In You²: A High Velocity Formula for Multiplying Your Personal Effectiveness in Quantum Leaps author Price Pritchett outlines the value in creating a long-term vision:
It is crucial to have a crystal clear picture of what you want to accomplish… Rivet your attention on that spot where you are to land at the end of your Quantum Leap… Once you do that, it’s almost as if you magnetize yourself to the ways and means involved in the methodology for getting there. Solutions begin to appear. Answers come to you.
In terms of developing my Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) I found both the guiding criteria and tools outlined in Alan Gehringer’s article from Rhythm Systems particularly helpful.
However:
It took a few iterations to realize that my initial draft (To have meaningfully improved the lives of 1000 people) wasn’t audacious enough. My thoughts revolved around face to face interactions as the primary means of accomplishing my goal and thus limited my reach. Revising my BHAG to improve the lives of 1,000,000 people completely shifted my thinking in terms of how I would accomplish such a feat. Face to face would only be a small piece of the puzzle.
Bonus: Read more about Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs) from the duo that originally coined the term in this excerpt from Built to Last by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras.
3 Year Snapshot
3 Year Snapshot. Vivid Vision. Painted Picture. Whatever you choose to call it visualizing what life looks like in the future has been critical to some of the most successful people on the planet. Brian Scudamore CEO of 1–800-GOT-JUNK? explains:
The first step in “painting” my 3 Year Picture was predicting measurables, in my case income and net worth. I then set out to compile a list of 5 to 15 things I want for my life 3 years from now. I chose MJ DeMarco’s 3 F’s, outlined as the basis of wealth in his book The Millionaire Fastlane, as a starting point:
What do I want in terms of my Family? (I interpret Family as all meaningful relationships)
What do I want in terms of my Fitness? (Both physical and mental)
What do I want in terms of my Freedom? (Finances, time, travel, philanthropy)
Once my list was complete I took a moment to close my eyes and envision myself 3 years in the future having achieved my objectives.
Yup, that’ll do nicely.
Lifetime Wish List
“I solemnly swear to create memories that last a lifetime. I vow to make an impression on the world, not the couch. I promise to dream about unrealistic goals. And make them my reality. ”
My Lifetime Wish List, or “bucket list,” serves as a repository for all of the dreams and aspirations I hope to achieve in my lifetime. While the BHAG and 3 Year Snapshot (reviewed annually) tend to remain static the Lifetime Wish List is a living document that I continually edit and update.
Want to know the best part?
I’ve found that many of the items on my list will require planning. Thus they will eventually make their way into my 3 Year Snapshot and/or 1 Year Goals.
Bonus: Looking for inspiration? Click here to explore bucket list ideas from the bucketlist.org community.
How: 1 Year Goals and Quarterly Rocks.
1 Year Goals
“A goal without a plan is just a dream. ”
Brainstorming and defining the three to seven most important things that need to be done in the next year is an integral part of my annual planning process. In terms of how to go about this, I’ve had great success creating mind maps with this method from Jenny Blake, a former Google career coach. I also reference my 3 Year Snapshot when identifying the “themes” she mentions to ensure I’m heading in the right direction.
Speaking of themes:
As I define my annual goals I occasionally find a common thread develops between them. I use those opportunities to identify a theme for the year when it makes sense. For instance, my theme for 2019 was “Give back” and this article is just one of many ways I am striving to do so.
Bonus: By default these objectives are time-bound, but using the remaining four components of the SMART criteria (specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant) will ensure that the verbiage you select matches your intent.
Quarterly Rocks
You might be wondering:
What the heck are “Rocks”?
Rocks are simply the three to seven priorities that will govern where you focus your primary effort for the next quarter. By creating this “90-day world” I am afforded additional clarity and focus by breaking up the larger, more nebulous objectives outlined as my 1-year goals into more manageable chunks.
Bonus: In Stephen Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change the author suggests that highly effective people “Put First Things First.” The illustration above is an interpretation of a presentation that Covey himself developed in which he coined the phrase “Big Rocks” as a metaphor for those principal priorities.
Conclusion
“Wealth — in whatever form — is seldom the result of luck or coincidence. ”
This Personal Vision Planning Tool has provided me with a framework to lean out into the future and develop my personal vision while simultaneously defining a plan to fulfill it. I’ve leveraged this tool to “unlock” several achievements in the game of life ranging from weight loss to world travel and it's just the beginning.
With Gratitude,
CC
P.S. - Did you experience an epiphany during this process? I would love to hear about it in the comments!
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