Crafting a Life Vision for the Driven Human
High achievers focus on their goals and ensure completion. The dopamine hit that comes from scratching off to-dos is momentarily fulfilling but can lead you toward a life of people pleasing if you haven’t set up a clear vision and constructed your goals from that vision.
Say you’re organized and have a knack for rallying the troops to get things done. Whether you’re a mom, manager in the corporate world, or a teacher, you probably get asked to take on extra duties that require this skill set. If you love scratching off to-dos, you’ll say yes for that rush of getting things done right. But, if you say yes too much, you actually detract from your life goals. Don’t people please. Identify your vision and pin your goals and tasks to that.
You’ll be more successful and fulfilled in the long run if you identify a life vision.
If you love scratching off to-dos, you’ll say yes for that rush of getting things done right. But, if you say yes too much, you actually detract from your life goals. Don’t people please. Identify your vision and pin your goals and tasks to that.
A life vision should be:
Concise, no more than two sentences.
Broad enough to encompass multiple stages of life.
What you want. Eliminate too many outside voices.
Identifying who you want to be, not just things you want to do.
Identifying characteristics or skills you want to press into.
An example of a life vision could be: I want to stay up-to-date on speech-language-pathology research, help others be confident communicators, and practice hospitality. I want to be a curious learner, patient and gracious friend and family member, and make all feel welcome in my heart and home.
Now, this isn’t my vision statement, but it gives you an idea of the length and style that could be effective. It should be broad enough to match multiple stages of life but specific enough that you can make decisions about how to spend your time by weighing against the statements. It’s okay to evaluate and change your vision statement from time to time, but try to think about your whole life, not just the season you’re currently in.
Questions to ask yourself:
Who do you want to be? What do you want to do?
What characteristics do you want to be known for?
What skills do you want to cultivate?
What do you truly enjoy doing, absent money or others’ approval?
If you like the pen and paper exercise of writing a life vision, check out this life vision worksheet for a practical exercise.
Live a life of purpose and choose your goals based on the ones that most fit that vision! Don’t get lost in being a yes man or woman and simply being productive for the sake of enjoying never ending to-do lists. Be purposeful, not just productive.
The next time you’re presented with a new opportunity, you’ll have your life vision ready to see if it matches what you’ve purposefully crafted for yourself.