The big vision, a glimpse into future you
It feels good and it’s important to have a big vision for your business, career and work. When you have a big vision, working is more fun because you have more clarity, faith and confidence. You create products that have this vision weaved in. You speak in a way that’s aligned with your vision. This big vision is like the gentle hand of a wise fairy, holding your back and whispering to you softly, go this way, turn this way, sit still.
In many parts of the world, the leaves are now turning color and the air is getting crisper. This is a great time to come back to yourself and revisit your vision, or create one from scratch. I’ve always felt that if we listen, nature gives us clues to live better. When the air gets cold, you go back inside. You don’t go to sleep for 6 months like the bear, but you change the place from which you look at the world. You change your view, because you’re now looking from further away, from inside. In a similar way, coming back to your vision means that you step away from the rapid pace of your work and that, from a place of distance, you revisit what you want.
The word vision means that you imagine the future.
You see the future as you want it to be. A vision often starts with a quiet feeling. Maybe you don’t imagine the exact place, colors or smells of the future, but you get glimpses into what you want. From there, you start filling in the blanks until one day you know exactly what you want to achieve in your work.
A vision isn’t about how you’ll achieve what you want to achieve.
In fact, the question how? is to a vision what a needle is to a balloon. No way, not near your balloon! Every time you think about your vision and you feel the question how? creeping in, take a breath and tell yourself, “It is not my job to figure out the details right now. Right now, in this moment, my only job is to think about what I want, not how I’ll get it.”
The more and the faster your business or career grows, the more you might feel inclined to skip thinking of your vision. You will get busier and busier and you will encounter new experiences that might temporarily take you out of your comfort zone. You will most likely be more alert and more present with your business. However, I highly recommend that you spend quality time revisiting your vision at least four times a year, every three months, with the change of every season.
Quality time means that you show up fully present, that you think big, that you leave any worries aside and that you allow your imagination to go to far away places when it creates the future you.
This is a dreaming exercise. It’s best if you do it in stillness. I recommend you do this alone. Afterwards, if you feel the desire to, you can work with a business coach to fine tune what you included in your vision.
Think of your imagination like a TV screen that has a great “future you” best motion picture to show you. For that, you need to turn the TV on, you need to look and you need to pay attention. If you get a glimpse into yourself as the successful CEO of a thriving company of 1000 employees and you immediately think, hell no, I could never, I would never, I recommend you reset your vision TV back on. All you have to do is look, not to provide commentary. While that might feel like an impossible goal or even an unwanted goal from where you are right now, years from now you might feel different. Sometimes I get glimpses about future me that seem bizarre to me. From where I’m sitting right now, I can’t see how I could possibly want what I see. However, I’ve learned that our desires evolve with time. What we want today is not what we’ll want five years from now. Therefore, it’s best if we give your dreams room to breathe on their own.
Here are 27 questions to spark your imagination as you dream about your vision.
You don’t need to answer all of them, just look through this list and see what resonates the most with you. Then, sit in a comfortable place, read a question, close your eyes and dream your answer. Then, when you’re ready, open your eyes, read another question, close your eyes again and dream some more. At the end, write down your thoughts about future you. Years later, when you’ll stumble upon what you wrote, you’ll smile, knowing that you’ve already accomplished so much from what you wrote that day (today).
1) Who are you?
Examples:
I am a successful entrepreneur
I am an outstanding coach
I am a blossoming CEO
I am a thriving healer
I am a prosperous author
I am an acclaimed speaker
2) What are you doing?
Examples:
I’m building a profitable business
I buy and sell businesses
I buy and sell real estate
I write
I teach
I speak to audiences
I lead teams
3) What is the change you’re making in the world?
Examples:
I help people feel loving
I help people feel loved
I help people feel beautiful
I help people live their best lives
I help people use their money intelligently
I help people get in touch with Earth and nature
I help people make more profit
4) Who are you surrounded by?
Examples:
Loving, profitable and loyal customers
Skilled and motivated employees and consultants
Supporting peers
Supporting family members
Fun loving, light hearted, productive people
People who stimulate my intelligence and curiosity
Nobody, I want to be alone for a while (hey, that’s ok too!)
5) How big is your business?
6) What are you selling?
7) What are you offering for free?
8) What ideas, words or people make you feel the most purposeful and most unstoppable?
9) What do you love the most about your work and your business?
10) What are your three most important priorities?
11) How does the experience you create for your customers make them feel?
12) What do you want your customers to say about you when you’re not in the room?
13) What aspect of your work and business makes you feel the most fulfilled emotionally?
14) What makes you feel the proudest when you go to bed at night?
15) How many customers do you have?
16) How much sales and how much profit do you make every year?
17) How does your brand make people feel?
18) What words describe your brand?
19) In what countries do you operate?
20) How can people buy your products?
21) What is the media saying about you?
22) Where are you working from?
23) How are you spending your day?
24) What does your company’s organization structure look like?
25) How many different teams and employees do you have?
26) What symbols, images or colors feel like a good representation of your future business?
27) Are you happy you followed this path?