In my birthday blogs I wrote a little bit about envisioning and then I wrote a little format for myself in how I created my 10 year plan and what it looks like. I decided to share that format here and I hope it helps.
How to create a personal/professional vision:
- First review any previous work you’ve done on the topic and make sure you’ve got that cemented in.
- Write a timeline.
Writing a timeline allows you to set your values really carefully and I’ve blogged about this previously but effectively all you do is get a sheet of A4 paper and turn it landscape. Draw a line from the lower left corner to the upper right corner and then start to divide the lines into significant parts in your life.
Just put date lines in at the best scale you can, like the date you were born, when you first started school, got married, lost a relative, started a new job etc etc.
Just put the most important things on there that you’ve got in your life, the ones that you remember and the ones that shaped you and made you the person you are.
Once you’ve finished you know where your values sit.
3) Write down your values and then your goals (ethics, honesty, money, physical, satisfaction etc or whatever it is that drives you, whatever it is you want to be remembered for or to feel in the next 10 years).
4) Assess your hierarchy of needs. This falls back to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
There’s no point in setting a 10 year vision to be an opera singer when your running away from someone with a semi-automatic machine gun. Safety, shelter, food, heat and then moving up the hierarchy through self-esteem towards self-actualisation.
5) Now brainstorm
Take another blank sheet of paper and write down what comes out of your mind.
I use a Venn diagram with 3 intersecting circles, family, work, self and then I decide what goes where.
6) Envision what the idea looks like in 10 years
What would you like the Venn diagram to look like? What parts of it would take up the biggest parts of your life and what would be in them?
7) Divide it into a third and give yourself the first three years
8) Write your perfect achievement week of how you’re going to take 40 weeks or how ever many weeks you want of the year to move yourself towards your 3 year plan in yearly sections.
9) Begin to implement and review after every week and every month and then every quarter
At the end of the year, usually in the Christmas and new year holidays see how you’ve done. Revamp, readjust, are you ahead or are you behind, what do you change?
Good luck, can’t wait to see what you do!
Blog Post Number - 2973
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