Vision – What is a Vision?

Vision? You mean those funky framed and dusty statements hanging on the wall in your office that no one pays attention to? 

If you’re old enough, you remember when businesses were all scrambling to create Vision Statements or Mission Statements for their customers to see. Most of them were crap. Seriously. They were so laden with jargon and cliches that they became meaningless. Good organizations still do Vision and Mission Statements, but they really do make them worthwhile.

How?

A good Vision is a description of the life you want to live at some point in the future. It will describe in a few sentences the circumstances of your life and what kind of impact you have and had on your friends, family and community. It doesn’t have to be extremely detailed. It needs to be meaningful. It should be something that will motivate you every time you read it. It should be something that someone else who reads it either wants to do it too or wants to support you in your journey.

A good Vision is not about how much money you have or the stuff you’ve acquired. I think those are just confessing to being a narcissist. A good Vision will describe relationships and the circumstances of your life. It’s the destination you’re working toward. It’s OK to say you’re retired or that you spend your time in a certain way, golfing for example. It should describe you you got to the point where you’re retired and golf all the time. How did you change lives to get there?

Most of all a good Vision should inspire you to work on your Goals as much as possible. A good Vision will keep you motivated through the rough times as long as you believe in it and believe you can have it. A good Vision is something to aspire to and a life you want to share with as many people as possible.