How to Write a Vision Statement

By dougnau on Oct 20, 2008 in Consciousness, Lifestyle Change, Tools

If you’ve read my articles before you may be wondering why I have written at such length on the topic of writing a personal vision statement. This is my fifth direct article on this specific topic and many of my ancillary articles refer to the vision as a starting point for creating ‘more’ in life. Why do I write at such length on the topic? Simply put, this is the single most empowering step you can take to consciously creating the life of your dreams.

Over the years, I’ve been introduced to a variety of vision development methods and I’ve never given full exposure in this blog to the different strategies that people have deployed – perhaps because I’ve always felt that the diary format (see below) is the most empowering. With some self inquiry, I’ve come to realize that this is a personal bias and is not necessarily the right media for all people. Just because I’ve seen such powerful results with so many people using this format does not mean it is correct for everyone, so this article offers additional ways people have used to create their personal life vision.

Formats for writing your vision statement

I assume that you know what a vision statement is if you’ve found this article – if not, refer to my article Developing the Vision. Lets discuss some of the different formats that people have used in creating their vision. Since most people like to scan these articles, here’s a bullet list of some of the most common ways that people can develop their vision followed by their description:

Diary Format
Vision Board
Vision Book
Artistic Drawings
Poetry/Music/Creative
Meditative

Diary Format: The Diary format for writing a vision statement is the most common method that I have come across for both individuals and organizations. When writing a diary format vision statement, you pick a date in the future, and describe what life looks like on that day. You don’t need to speak of how you got there (that is the place of goal setting), you simply write in detail what you would like life to be in the future. You get to choose the date that is the most empowering for you. If you’d like sample questions to get the creative juices flowing, or if you’d like a detailed description of how my clients write out their vision statements, again I’ll refer you to the article Developing the Vision. The key is that you read this vision diary entry regularly!

Vision Board: Over the years, many people have embraced the action of developing a vision board. On a large poster board, find images that represent your long term vision. This may include images alone, or words found in magazines and newspapers that call out to you. The process of creating a vision board is both forward thinking and extremely personal. Remember, when you are choosing your images and words, make sure they call out to you and compel you towards the ultimate step of taking action. After you develop the vision board, post it in a location that you view regularly.

Vision Book: I worked with one client that really impressed me with how she took the concept of the vision and turned it into a living book. Similar to the vision board, she filled each page of a book with a theme that was important to her. Finance, Career, Health, Relationships among many others each filled one or more pages each of her vision book. The book itself was bound and just like the vision board, it contained clippings from newspapers and magazines that filled her with passion. Again, make sure that the book is in a location that you refer to frequently.

Artistic Drawings: Personally, I am far from an accomplished artist, however I’ve always like to draw small inaccurate sketches that had meaning and value for me. For example, I’ve a sketch of my ‘dream house’ on my ‘dream property’ in a personal development binder that I keep. Artistic drawings are a phenomenal way to bring the vision in our mind into the physical world. The more the artistic vision is refined, the more leverage it has in inspiring us to create it. Similar to any of these media, it may be difficult to capture everything we want in one image (page, board, or diary entry), so feel free to create an artistic vision that is more than one picture.

Poetry/Music/Creative: As you are likely seeing, all of the processes above require you to invoke your own personal creative skill sets. To be frank with you, I do not know anyone that has personally crafted their vision statement as a poem or scripted it to music. However, if you are skilled with such talents, I am certain that these are extremely effective ways to inspire change as they contain both the message and a powerful media that can invoke emotion and ultimately action. I am sure I’ve missed some creative methods in the list above, hopefully this list is giving you an idea that there is no right or wrong way to create a vision, and that building and reviewing your vision regularly is the true model.

Meditative: Athletes in particular are very aware of the process of visualization. As a young tennis player, I’d be encouraged to visualize the perfect match before I would play it. What did my volleys look like, how did my serve feel, what was it like to win? Developing your personal vision is just that – a personal process. While I am biased towards having a referenceable document of some sort, I am certain that people can create results with conscious and regular reflection upon the life that they desire. For example, I doubt that all top athletes have written out a vision statement to be the best in their sport. I am certain, however, that best in each sport has thought about it relentlessly throughout their life. If you elect to use a meditative approach towards developing your life vision, make sure that you plan it such that it is a regular and frequent topic of thought and meditation.

What is the purpose of a personal vision statement?

As you may be seeing from the commentary above, a vision statement is fundamentally there to bring clarity to your life. We’ve all got some areas we are very clear of (ie: perhaps you want children, or you are seeking a promotion), and others that are, well, uncertain at best. Sometimes, we are quite comfortable with a lack of clarity (ie: I could care less what kind of car I drive in 10 years), however other times we are simply frustrated that we have no direction.

The purpose of the vision statement is provide us with insight into an outcome of life that is so compelling that we are inspired to take action – now. Whatever format does that for you is the right way to write your vision. If you are not sure – just try any of these listed above out. If it isn’t the right format for you, its one step closer to the one that fits.

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