Vision Anyone?

Vision Anyone?

With all of the negative news on television, it would be easy to get distracted and lose your vision. Distractions are one of the most common problems that hinder any individual from being successful. To stay the course and focus is essential for success.

In this article I’m going to share something I leaned from a heavyweight fundraiser I met in downtown Minneapolis a few years ago. This professional fundraiser shared something with me I have thought about often. It is the concept of a “vision sheet.”

“What is a vision sheet,” you ask?

Everyone who wants to accomplish maximum results out of their work efforts could use a vision sheet. A vision sheet is a single sheet of paper . . . that’s important, that it is a single sheet of paper because you are going to hang this in your office or wherever you start your work day.

A vision sheet contains your vision, the overall picture of what you want to accomplish in life. Firstly, it will name your goals, what you want to achieve. Secondly, it will tell you how you are going to accomplish those goals and thirdly, it may break down some very simple, practical steps, or tasks, that you can do on a daily basis. In a sentence, a vision sheet keeps you focused.

In anyone’s typical day there are many things that occur that you didn’t anticipate . . . fires to put out, perhaps. Well, if you are continually putting out fires, how are you going to make progress on the important goals you have laid out for yourself?

A vision sheet will pull you back into focus. If you run off the tracks, it will bring you back onto the tracks.

How do you develop a vision sheet?

You might be surprised at the number of people who when asked about their mission in life, can’t succinctly tell you. They are not really sure what they are doing in life. As the saying goes, if you don’t shoot at anything, you won’t hit anything, or to put it another way, how can you accomplish anything if you don’t know what you are trying to accomplish?

So, how do you develop a vision sheet?

Well, you just get a bunch of paper and a pen and start writing. First of all you write down what you want to accomplish in life, long term or short term, or both. Just write and write. Get it all out. It will feel good. Don’t worry about formatting, outlining or organizing your material in a neat format. Just write!

Secondly, you write how you hope to accomplish your overall goals.

Thirdly, you break it down into steps, tasks you can do.

Fourthly, you may want to list what you can do today to make your goals a reality. In other words, how can you get started?

When you are done writing you may have five or ten pages. So, now you write it over and you try to condense it down, eliminating a couple pages. You repeat this process until you have a single page, written in the most simple language you can muster. That way you can glance at it every morning and readily digest what your vision sheet says.

And that’s it folks. This simple exercise might revolutionize your life.

I encourage you to try it.

You just might be totally delighted with the results.