A Vision is the big PICTURE of your ideal future. Great and noble vision will generate the greatest source of power, passion, and purpose in you. To paraphrase Walt Disney: If you can picture it, you can achieve it.

The pages of history are filled with stories of people whose visions were once ignored, laughed at, and mocked before they became the realities of today. I am sure you know some of those people who were successful in life, not simply because of education and wealth, but mainly because of their compelling VISIONS. No amount of fear or rejection can stop them from turning their visions, their big picture, into reality.

Your big vision is how you want to live your values in life if you want to live your life to the fullest. Living your best life ever also means also living the most desirable, the most valuable, the most ideal vision possible for each area of your life.

Your Vision is not a wish. Your vision is what you want to see happen. Your vision defines where you want to be if you were to live your values for the rest of your life. Your visions give you direction. Your vision helps you see the significance of your actions everyday of your life.

When we were younger, very much younger, old people are very much interested about our Vision for the future. Everywhere, they had asked us this question: What do you want to be when you grow up? Then they forgot about that until such time they asked us about the course we wanted to take in college. For most people, they got into a work they never wanted. I believe Walt Disney was in his 50’s when a portion of his big dreams became reality. You are still young. Relive once more your dream as a child.

Let me offer you two ways: Guided Visualization, and Someday I Will.

Guided Visualization

I got this visualization from the Best of Active Training. I found one visualization technique from the Book of Virtues, but I shared the book to a friend and he is not reachable at this moment.

You can ask your friend to read this text for you. You can also record this yourself.

Begin by taking deep breaths. Inhale through your nostrils and exhale through your mouths. Take deep breaths with your eyes closed. Once you feel relaxed and comfortable, begin the imagery. Ask your friend to start reading, or play your recorded audio.

Note: Feel free to modify the imagery.

“Imagine you are 100 years old. You are sitting on your front porch, rocking gently in the quiet of a sunny afternoon, reminiscing about your life. You are organizing your thoughts in preparation for a visit later in the day by a journalist who wants to interview you about your life. You know the journalist will ask about your successes in life, as well as your family life, your friendships, and how you have managed to live so long in good physical and mental health. Picture yourself nearing the end of a very long and successful life, feeling good about yourself, your accomplishments, your family and friends. Imagine the journalist walking up to your home. She greets you by name, introduces herself as a prominent journalist, and settles down in the porch swing. Picture your interview with her as she first asks you what your main values in life have been. What phrases or philosophies have you modeled your life after? “

[PAUSE: Allow approximately ONE minute for this.]

“ Imagine the interviewer responding positively to your life values and then asking how you maintained a positive family environment. What three characteristics did you model with your family, spouse, or lover that made the relationship positive? “

[PAUSE: Allow approximately ONE MINUTE for this.]

“Imagine the interviewer affirming your stated characteristics and then asking you about the quality of the friendships in your life. What three adjectives would you imagine your friends using as an indication of the quality of your friendships with them? “

[PAUSE: Allow approximately ONE MINUTE for this.]

“Imagine the interviewer smiling and asking you the same question concerning your working relationships. What three adjectives would your coworkers or supervisors use to describe the effectiveness of your working relationships? “

[Allow approximately three minutes for this.]

“As the interviewer jots down your responses, she poses the next question: Given your successful and rewarding life, how did you maintain your own emotional and physical well-being? What activities or commitments did you have in your life that enabled you to stay physically and emotionally healthy? “

[Allow approximately ONE MINUTE for this.]

“Imagine the interviewer remarking positively about the personal effort you extended toward maintaining inner balance in your life and commenting on how fulfilling your life sounds. As the interviewer closes her notebook and stands to leave, imagine her thanking you for taking the time to share your insights and assuring you that her readers will find some very important lessons in how to live effectively.”

Once you are done with this imagery, write down everything you feel about your vision in your journal.

Someday I will

This method is simple. I only ask you to do this as if everything is possible. Most people don’t give themselves the opportunity to dream because they thought that dreaming is a waste of time. That is true for some people. I say that to dream nothing is also a waste of time. Don’t rationalize while doing this activity. I have long realized that people rationalized more when they are afraid. Many times Fear disguise as Reason.

Let’s relive one again the vision we had as a child. What would you be if…money is not a problem, education is not a hindrance, you were bold enough to face life, etc.

Sit down. Get your pen and paper. And write down your future by completing Someday I will…
I listed 101 Someday I Will’s…Here are some of them.

Someday I will be an inspirational speaker
Someday I will be a best selling author of inspiration books.
Someday I will meet the Pope.
Someday I will speak before 100 thousand people at one time.
Someday I will inspire more teachers to become great teachers.

Think of various areas in your life. Think of your values.

If you intend to share this exercise with your employees, I suggest that you help them first come up with their ranked values. Make them understand why understanding their Values is very essential to visioning. At once, this activity will help you understand the needs, desires, aspiration of your employees. I tell you once again, you cannot serve the best interest of your employees until you know their values and aspirations (which you will find in their vision.) If they will find this activity useless, don’t misunderstand them. They just don’t know that whatever they are is actually what they wanted of themselves. It is what they think about themselves all day long. But you care for them. You need to persuade them that if they are to create a beautiful future, they must alter their frame of mind. They must believe in themselves and in the beauty of their dreams.

Jef Menguin is from the Philippines.   He is a motivational speaker, a training consultant, an executive coach, a toastmaster, and a trying hard blogger. He specializes in leadership development, team building, customer service, coaching, and workplace communication.

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