Success starts with a good vision and creating a vision is not simple. Last week we started creating your vision, in this post we will talk about steps for creating a compelling vision and successful vision statement. This four-step approach is simple and logical and enables you to create your vision and vision statement. This post also presents you two most common ways to create your vision.

VisionThe first of the three ingredients of success is vision.  Vision is the blue  dot. It is the destination on the map where we would like to reach. A compelling vision with a powerful vision statement can inject enthusiasm and energy in your life. Vision can also be a source of motivation if used effectively. This guiding light can show you which way the tunnel opens.

Now that you know why you need a vision, lets talk about vision statement. While it is good to have a vision, it is equally important to put the vision in words to bring more clarity to your thoughts. A well-worded vision statement is a great resource to go to, when you feel lost and don’t have a clue where to go.

 

Four Steps to Compelling Vision

Creating a vision and vision statement is a four step process. All these four steps are equally important for being successful in this process. Before you start reading further make sure you have following items with you:

  • About 15 minutes
  • A quiet room
  • Paper
  • Pen (Pen and Paper is not required if using a computer :) )

Once you have the items mentioned above, we are ready to roll. Lets look at these steps.

1. Visualize Success

The first step to creating your vision is to visualizing what success looks like in future to you. Stop reading this post here and take few minutes to think about this. What does success look like in future? What are the accomplishments you would like to have achieved by this future time? What contributions would you like to have made by this future time? Think about the answers to these questions before you continue. STOP and think about this. Given it a thought? Yes? Okay, so by now you should have an idea what success it? What does it look like? Can you describe it to yourself? If you did not realize, you just created your vision in your mind.

2. Put it in words

Rethink about that picture you had in your mind in step 1. What does success look like? Take your writing tools and draft how you would describe your mental image. While you do that, use positive words and write in present tense. Once you have a rough draft, fair it as much as you can and then leave it. Revisit it in couple of hours and finalize it. And with this step, your vision statement is created.

3. Use them

Creating vision and developing a vision statement is one thing, it is a totally different thing to use it and follow up with the next steps. After creating vision and vision statement, it is important to use them regularly to set your goals and measure your progress is necessary. At the same time, regular check should be placed so that you can decide whether you are moving towards your vision or away from it.

4. Revise them

Once you have put regular checks in place and start monitoring your progress, it is also important to review the vision and ask yourself, “is this vision still valid? is this something I still want or have my priorities changed?” If the answer to any of the question is yes, it is time to go to step 1 and revise the vision. How frequently you should revise? Well there are lot of theories out there, but I feel as frequently as you can, however, if you want a number I would say once a month should be a good balance. So that you don’t do it too frequently and neither do you wait too long to find out that your ladder has been leaning against the wrong wall.

 

Story Doesn’t End Here

This four-step process presented above is a summary of how to develop a vision and how to create a compelling vision statement. There are lot of resources on the web that give more details about how to develop vision and create a vision statement. Look out for that post in future. There are two most popular ways to create vision that I came across.

  1. Vision Exercises
  2. Vision Questions

I’ll leave you with this now, look out for vision exercises and vision questions in near future. Do you have any tips for creating vision and developing a vision statement? Have you tried developing your vision? What were the challenges you faced? Tell us in the comments below.

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