We, at Your Living City, have been working with Vision Takeoff to help form our vision. Their advice, coaching and support has not only inspired us, but also helped us get where we are today – a company on the road to success. We hope they can do the same for you.
Your personal career vision
A new year with new beginnings. We’re often inspired to make changes, find new paths, pursue new options. The beginning of a new year is also a great time for reflection. What would you like 2011 to bring and where are you going in the long-term? Use this time to formulate your personal career vision and let it be the greatest springboard into the new year.
What is a vision?
A vision is a dream that is so strong that it drives you to action. A strong vision works both as fuel and as a map helping you find strength and make decisions.
Why should you have a vision?
In sports it is common practice to have a vision. The soccer player wants to be the star player in Real Madrid, the sprinter wants to win the Olympic Gold Medal and the tennis player envisions a Grand Slam. They visualize themselves standing on the field and hearing the crowd’s cheers or holding the trophy as their national anthem is played in the speakers. And it is the vision that drives them forward. But in other professions, and even more so in our private lives, we’re not used to creating powerful visions. We might know what position we want at our job, which house we want to live in or what clothes we want to wear but we don’t exactly know why or where these goals will lead us. The personal career vision describes who you want to be, what you want your life to look like and it should be as fun and exciting as the Wimbledon trophy raised above your head!
What are the criteria for a vision?
• Fun, exciting and connected to values of what is important in life.
• Able to be visualized as an image in your mind.
• Future oriented, something you’re currently missing and dreaming of.
• Challenging and demanding, think big.
• Clear and easy to explain.
• Not too close in time (3-5 years ahead or more), set goals along the way.
Examples of visions
For the entrepreneur it could be to sell their company, be awarded a business award or opening a European branch. For the career driven person it could be to be a driven leader that people look up to, the most successful businessman at the company or a role model when it comes to balancing career and family life.
It’s also about your personal brand, who you want to be in both your own and others’ eyes.
How would you want to be described in a future newspaper article about yourself?
Examples of what’s not a vision
A common mistake is to confuse visions with goals. To lose 10 kilos, exercise 3 times per week, change positions at work or move to a new home are not visions but goals on the way towards a vision. The vision is the answer to why you want to lose weight, start exercising, getting a new job or moving. “I want to wake up every morning and feel healthy, strong and full of energy” could be a vision that contains all of these goals.
Helena Timander & Marie Alani
Vision Takeoff
“A travel agency in personal development – for great visionaries”
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vision-Takeoff/117954521596199
