Figuring out where you want to end up isn’t something that you can do overnight. I first took it seriously about five years ago (has it been that long already?) when I realized that I didn’t want to be a programmer as a career and that there was life and purpose outside of the robotic 9 to 5 existance that school had worked so hard to prepare me for. I started to develop an awareness of what I actually wanted to do versuses what I was being pushed towards by well-meaning family, friends, and teachers. I made a turn and started heading in a direction that took me further and further from the original safe, stable plan that would get me a reasonably paying development job at a big corporation.

I’m now much happier and better off than I was before I took control of my life. Over the last five years I have developed a strong and detailed vision of what I want at many distances into the future. Prior to this conscious effort to shape my life my future outlook was vague and didn’t connect with the present. The sum total of my life plan was that I would be rich and own a Ferrari; a wonderful and ambitious plan no doubt, but seriously lacking some key details.

The most thrilling part of my life right now is seeing reality converge with this new detailed vision that I have built, to the point where I now feel like I have stepped aboard the beginning of my dream. My business has followed a similiar path, growing more and more successful as my vision of it becomes clear enough to turn into a reality. These are definitely the results of having learned over time to work back from where I want to be to where I am now and actually filling in the gaps that will get me there. Goals have sprouted naturally as a result, saving me the frustration that is normally experienced when you’re put on the spot and told to “come up with goals”. Even though I put in at least 12 hours of work every single day to realize my intended achievements I feel as if my brain is simply driving me where I want to go. That’s the benefit of being wholly committed to what I am doing on a conscious and subconscious level.

Developing this vision hasn’t been particularly hard, but it has required patience and a willingness to be flexible. One of the issues that I struggled with most is separating the concept of being committed to the vision and stubbornly clinging to it despite signs that I should be altering my course. I resisted making changes that would have been very beneficial in my belief that I already knew exactly what I wanted, and consequently slowed down getting to where I want to be. There’s no logical reason to believe that the first vision you come up with is the right one for you, or the one that will lead you to the greatest success. Your own vision should be constantly changing to adapt to the realities of your situation, so that it’s possible to fill in how you intend to get there. It’s those intermediate steps that actually result in actions that bring you towards where you want to be, and create the goals required along the way.

If where you are heading and where you want to be aren’t already one and the same then this is the time to change that. Whether talking about your life or your business (there are amazing parallels between the development of the two), begin to consciously develop that vision. Start somewhere off into the future (but with a known date) and build back. Be willing to change and adapt to consider your existing situation and don’t be afraid of exploring multiple paths in your mind. Once you have some direction then do some research into the unknown elements to help you accept or reject possibilities. Then keep building.

I work on shaping my vision every single day, generally when taking a walk or otherwise not in a state that requires much mental attention. I’m a daydreamer at heart so this is a highly enjoyable process for me that has become second nature. Figure out what situation allows you to best drift into that mental state where you can visually consider where you wish to end up and then work on it regularly. Don’t be frustrated if everything doesn’t become clear in one day, as it will take time for vision and reality to begin to converge.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 12th, 2006 at 7:14 am and is filed under Achievement, Business Strategy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.