A vision is a foresight of the
future. Though the mental image is that of oracles, of prophets and
Nostradamus, a vision, in daily life, is just a grand plan of what you want to
do with yourself. It is your series of goals leading to your ultimate goal,
which is backed by your mission in life. When we have a vision for what we want
to do with our lives, our steps will be guided with purpose. We are then driven
to do everything with the vision in mind.
If you have watched or read Memoirs
of a Geisha, you must have noted that Chiyo, from the moment she fell in love
with the Chairman, planned her steps to get to see him again, with the dream of
becoming his. Her childish vision turned into a life mission: she became a
celebrated geisha, and she ultimately got her man. Vision is the backbone and
the main driving force of our lives. Without vision to go back to, all our
micro-goals amount to nothing. Why, then, is vision key to personal
development? When a person finally emerges from the stage of confusion and
exploration, he then yearns for direction to his life. But where does he turn
to?
All his experiences, insights and
realizations could all be funneled into a vision for his life. Vision is the
result of our insights turned into realizations turned into goals for change.
Vision is a result of learning from mistakes and channeling the energy into
productivity. If you want to turn your experiences into a vision for your life,
simply do the following. List down the major life lessons you've learned up to
the present moment. Go through them, and analyze how you can sum up everything
in a single statement. Make the statement. This statement will define your
current and future dealings, and the steps you are taking in life should be
driven by this one statement.
After you have made the statement,
take a few days to be in touch with yourself and think long and hard what you
really aim to do with your life. Elaborate this aim to include what you believe
is your purpose in living, and there you have it: the backbone of your
existence. Actually, the importance of vision in self-development cannot be
stressed enough. One cannot progress from adolescence to adulthood if he does
not have a clear direction in life. The mark of a made man is his sense of
purpose. He does not live life randomly. Rather, each step he takes is a step
closer to his goals, a step closer to success.
While there are other components to
self-development, like developing a winning attitude, vision underscores
everything. That when something in the process of reaching for your goals goes
wrong, when you go back to your vision, you will have something to redirect
your steps and put you back on your life-path. True, there are so many things
that distract us from our goals. It may be circumstances, financial
difficulties, or even other people. But when you have a vision for yourself,
all these are trivial. When you will be faced with duress of a great magnitude,
just go back to your vision, take a deep breath, and walk on. Vision will help
you counter discouragement. When you put your focus on what you reach,
obstacles become immaterial. Hence, if you want to develop yourself fully as a
person, you have to have a vision for yourself. These tips teach you how to do
so. Now, get a pen and paper and get to work!
