1 of 32

“One day Alice came to a fork in the road

And saw a Cheshire cat in a tree.

‘Which road do I take?’ she asked.

‘Where do you want to go?’ was his response.

‘I don’t know,’ Alice answered.

‘Then,’ said the cat, ‘it doesn’t matter.’

- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

2 of 32

3 of 32

CREATING A

PERSONAL VISION

DESIGNING THE LIFE YOU WANT TO CREATE

Today we are going to talk about the concept of visioning, what it is, what it isn’t, why you should care, and then have some hands-on time writing a personal vision -- both because I think it is really important to start with ourselves AND to learn a conceptual framework so that you can apply to visioning to your lives.

So visioning is the idea of first figuring out what we want success to look like at a particular point in the future, then working backward to the present. This is totally different than the way most of us have been trained in life, which is to start with the present and then figure out a way to work forward.

Steven Covey describes in his 7 Habits book as “Beginning with the end in mind.”

[explain how our typical mode is discussing the problems of today and then brainstorming how we are going to fix it -- this is very different]

Let me read you a vision we wrote for this class…

What did you think? How did it make you feel? Did it talk about HOW we were going to get it done?

4 of 32

5 of 32

READY TO STEP

INTO YOUR FUTURE?

6 of 32

WARM UP EXERCISE

�List of your “prouds"

5 minutes

7 of 32

LET’S WRITE DRAFT #1!

Go for something great
Write from the heart
Anything can happen
Make it personal
Don’t get stuck in the “how”

Ok, we’re are going to jump right into writing the first draft of your personal vision. For 20 minutes, without stopping, we are just going to write about what we want to do and where we want to be in 5 years.��Remember this is only a draft. Write what you like, allow your subconscious take over and write what is in your heart. You can edit later as many times as you want.��So a few guidelines...��Go for greatness! Nobody wants to live a mediocre life, don’t hold back. Write your vision for the future as if anything is possible, because it is!��Write from the heart. Place passion, feeling, dreams, and emotion into your vision.��Include anything you want to have happened in those 5 years. Do you want to create a business? Travel, to where? Get married, to whom? Where do you live? How is your health? Include everything you can think of.��Make it personal. Add names, adjectives, places, tastes, smells that will mean something to you.��Don’t get stuck in the “HOW”!

8 of 32

HOT PEN TECHNIQUE

Don’t stop
Turn off your internal editor
Write whatever comes to mind
Engage your senses as you describe your fabulous new future
Make it vivid
Don’t stop

20 minutes

9 of 32

“It’s April 22, 2023 and I’m ___ years old. I am happy and proud of what I’ve achieved in the past five years. These are the things I see going on that give evidence I have been successful in my vision: ”

10 of 32

WORK & EDUCATION

Where is your school, career or business?
What direction are you heading?
What are you doing?

PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL

How physically healthy are you?
Are you enjoying your life and making it fun?
Where do you find peace and happiness?
Are you trying new experiences?
Do you feel loved?
What are you finances like?
What are your contributions to society?

FRIENDS & FAMILY

How do your friends view you?
How does your family view you?
Are they supportive?
Are you supportive to them?

11 of 32

whew!

12 of 32

SHARING

Pair up in groups of 2 or 3
Read your vision (or parts)
Listen and share:

What was something that was inspiring to you about what they wrote?
What questions do you have about their vision?

�15 minutes

13 of 32

Awkward

14 of 32

15 of 32

16 of 32

VISION

�A description of success at a particular point in time in the future, described with enough richness and detail it becomes emotionally engaging and meaningful.

17 of 32

18 of 32