Your Vision: Define It, Wear It, Share It

Claiming Your Life Vision

It is human nature to dream and wonder.  It is the human spirit at its best when we actually dare to claim that dream.

Paying attention to your dreams —filling in enough detail to give them shape— transforms dreams to vision.  To make your vision real, you must define it, wear it, and share it.

Define It

Whether your vision has to do with something close at hand (e.g., the presentation you’re making next week, the vacation you’d like to take this summer) or longer term (e.g., your ideal job, home, life partner), allow yourself to get specific.  Sure, reality may vary from what you envision, but don’t let that stop you from imagining the possible details.  That’s when things get exciting.  In the very act of defining your vision, you move closer to it.

Prior to meeting my husband, I made a list of qualities I was looking for in my ideal partner.  It was quite funny (and a delightful surprise) when on our first date I learned that he, too, had a written list of his own!

Wear It

Wearing your vision is the big SO WHAT.  The only reason to have a vision in the first place is so that it inspires how you live (and focus your energy) in the present.  Wearing your vision means you allow it to impact what you say and do, what you believe, and how you behave.  Just as a political candidate becomes presidential long before he is elected, your vision must also be “tried on” before it comes to fruition.  When you wear your vision, it is materializing even before the visible proof appears.  No longer an “if”, it becomes simply a matter of time.

Prior to discovering the field of coaching, I suspected my ultimate career direction had something to do with motivating others.  This impacted my decisions and I gravitated to corporate roles that allowed me to mentor and motivate.  Having a vision (even a partial one!) was the impetus to saying yes to new opportunities and taking risk.

Share It

Vision involves others.  When you speak about your vision in conversation with another, certain things happen.  Your vision seems more real.  Your vision gets tested and evolves.  You begin to attract people and situations that support you.  A natural strategy emerges.

My first big step toward starting my own business occurred through the invitation of a friend with whom I had shared my earlier inklings. 

Having a vibrant vision —claiming it and sharing it with others— is the key to making it real.  Give yourself the gift of making room for your vision.  Define it.  Wear it.  Share it.