How to Write Your Vision and Create Your Future

My vision statement changed the direction of my life.

“Create a vision for the life you really want and then work relentlessly towards making it a reality.” ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

Vision is a concept I thought about my entire life. I didn’t have a name for it then. People just considered me a daydreamer.

Standing at the crossroads of my imagination, I stared in every direction.

I wandered here and there, and my future was only a dream.

Until I began college and took a class entitled, “How to Succeed in College,” and discovered goal setting. I started writing my goals for graduating.

I accomplished them and became a first-generation college graduate.

Then, I lost my way.

Action Plan

Over thirty years later, I found my path back to my life and setting goals again. However, I felt I needed something more.

That is when I stumbled on Andy Andrews Action Plan to develop a mission statement.

I was so excited!

Finally, I found a step-by-step explanation of articulating goals and how I might apply them.

Additional research led me to understand I also needed a vision statement for my life.

After years of studying other people’s action plans, and much reflection, I formulated what my plan might look like. I had an idea of what I wanted to do — write.

Backing Up to the Present

However, let’s back up a step and understand the import of my vision statement.

I never graduated from high school.

I got pregnant. In the 1970s, a teen mother was usually whisked off to an unwed mother’s home, or just put out of her own home.

The latter happened to me, and I left home and high school.

Years later, I went to college (I passed the entrance exam), and started my first day of English class. I was instructed to write a thesis statement, and I raised my hand in response to that instruction given by the teacher.

“What is a thesis statement?” I asked.

The teacher stared at me and said, “If you don’t know the answer, you do not need to be in a college classroom.”

Point blank.

I was not devastated; I was determined.

By the end of the semester, she handed me a congrats card writing, “I haven't seen anyone progress from where you were to where you are. Please take Honor’s English next semester and a class on how to write professionally.” (This was in 1989, before online classes.)

Back to the present.

In addition to Andy Andrew’s Plan, among others, I found @Shaunta Grimes and @Shannon Ashley.

After perusing their posts on writing, goals, a manifesto, and productivity, I came up with a plan I named Debbie’s Action Plan (DAP) using the following outline:

Vision statement — Mission Statement — Goals — Tasks

Preparations

Where do I begin?

I took a deep breath to clear my mind. Then, I decided to make some preparations.

• I once heard Jerry Jenkins (author of the Left Behind series and movie) say that we have to create a physical space (sacred space) to call our own — desk, room, chair — in which to write.
• Have writing materials available within your space: laptop, writing pad, pens, pencils, and sharpeners.
• Turn off all distractions-except the lights.
• Sit up straight with your feet on the floor. Unless you have a gravity-free chair.
• Breathe deeply.
• Pray/meditate. I ask for help from without and within.

Questions

Why do I need a plan? The answer: to bring focus, clarity, and boundaries.

• Focus-What overall direction do I want my life to go?
• Clarity-Know what specific path to take.
• Boundaries-Sets parameters for decision-making. If I know what I stand for, I can apply the principles to problem-solving.

Then, I asked myself three questions:

• Who am I?
• Who am I becoming?
• What is my purpose?

Mind Movies

At this point, I closed my eyes and once more envisioned what my future might look like.

I played a movie in my mind.

I saw myself signing autographs for my NYT bestselling book, being published in numerous publications, and building a substantial, thriving community on social media. (Notice how I worked backward).

Take your time on the answers or write the first thoughts you have. Do what is most comfortable for you and then put it away.

Vision Statement

I am learning how to use spreadsheets on Excel, however, at my age, I tend to be very analog. That does not stop me from casting a vision for my life, though, I do it for only five years at a time.

Every threshold I cross is a celebration.

For all intents and purposes, I created my vision on a poster board.

• Go back to your questions and your movie. Write out your vision. For example, my vision statement reads:

To encourage, inspire, and empower women to live lives of purpose & meaning…one word or deed at a time.

• Start in the upper right-hand corner and write the vision statement in pencil. You will probably have to revise it until it is complete.

One fact is significant; your vision statement is static. It does not change. It is the high mark to which we aspire.

Once this part is completed, we can move on.

Mission Statement

Now, our mission statement is one specific road we travel to reach our vision. It is fluid, and it can change.

You can have more than one mission statement.

So far, I have two — one for my writing life and one for my inspirational life.

Or you can have a business mission statement and a personal mission statement. It is yours, and you have the power to create it.

Let’s consider all the information we have talked about and take it a step further.

We ask three more questions:

• Who do you want to serve?
• Why do you want to serve?
• How do you want to serve?

The answers can be as simple or complex as you want to make them.

For example, someone may want to help writers market their articles. Her statement may read, I want to help overwhelmed writers market their articles to on-line publications.

All three questions are answered within the body of this one sentence, which becomes her mission statement.

A vision is something we live to. A mission is something we live from. Even though we are working backward, we are creating upward momentum.

Goals

We are ready for the third section of our outline — goals.

They have to be clear, specific statements on how to achieve your mission statement. Your goals also need to have time constraints.

You give yourself a time frame to accomplish your goal.

Let’s revisit our mission about overwhelmed writers. You might write the first goal as:

• By the end of the week, I will find ten publications that accept new writers.

You are only limited by your creativity and imagination.

Also, in my research, I found that each mission statement should have three goals.

Now on to our tasks.

Tasks

The last section of the outline is the tasks to achieve our goals and is the most crucial part.

This is where we do the research, perform the action, etc. One task might be:

• I will review the submission guidelines for these publications.

Our writer can now fulfill her mission.

You fill in the blanks. This is your plan. Go for it.

You might also wonder why I use three repeatedly throughout the plan.

The Rule of Three

It is because of the Rule of Three. This is a concept that can be traced back to Aristotle’s theories of time, place, and action.

In physics, Newton developed the Three Laws of Thermodynamics.

Western religion believes in the concept of the Trinity.

Even as children, we learn in threes — ABC, 123.

It is everywhere, and we even abbreviate in three: NFL, DEA, ADA.

In writing, we communicate effectively using the 3-Act Structure of beginning, middle, and end.

Our brain remembers patterns, and the easiest to remember is the smallest number pattern of three.

As you can see, this plan enables you to conceive and envision your life. The methodology gives you the freedom to play and plan. It empowers you to capture your future and hold it in the present.

Let’s create a vision statement together!

Debbie Walker is a great-grandmother writer, blogger, and the creator of Middle-Pause & Forward Motion, the podcast STOMP!, MPM Publishing, and is editing a 4-book anthology of Middle-Pause writers. Stay in touch at [email protected]; follow her on Facebook; Twitter; Pinterest; & listen to STOMP!