Discover Your Destiny with Personal Vision
Finding your destiny starts with a vision. The vision you have for your life in turn gives the direction you need to seek and find your destiny. This vision acts as a lighthouse – a guiding beacon – to light your way to success in both your career and personal life.
Defining a vision for your life means defining who you are and what you desire to do with your life. What activities give you the most pleasure? What special talents and abilities do you possess? How would you like to contribute those talents and abilities to create something meaningful? What could you give yourself to that would bring lasting satisfaction? Who do you want to become? The answers to these questions will help you define your vision.
It’s essential that this vision include who you are in both your career and personal life. Many people have trouble because they’ve focused on one area to the exclusion of the other. If you neglect to include both areas, you’ll forfeit the fullness of life for which you were intended. Unfortunately, this is the case in roughly 70 percent of the executives I’ve met. They blame their families, bosses, or themselves for their frustrations, when, in fact, they’ve tried to find fulfillment in only one area of their lives.
But it takes more than a vision to reach your destiny. You must move from the “where to” to the “how to.” This is where goals and plans of action come in. Once you have a vision for your life, it gives you direction to set meaningful goals. These goals should reflect the two-part nature of your vision, including both your career and personal life. Within the personal section, set goals that cover the six areas of life: physical, spiritual, mental, financial, family and social.
Make sure you include goals for each area so that your goals will be balanced. Your career goals must be balanced with your personal goals. Within your personal goals, each of the six areas of life should be balanced with each other. Never go to the extreme in one area and disregard another. If you do, you’ll become “lopsided” in your development and will miss out on complete fulfillment.
Not only must your goals be balanced, but they should also be compatible. Your career goals must match your personal goals if they’re going to work. If they’re at odds, you’ll be miserable. Take, for example, a man who considers spending time with his family a top priority. If he chooses a career as a traveling salesman, his goals aren’t compatible, and he will feel frustrated and guilty. Both the personal and career areas of his life will suffer.
Once you’ve established a vision and set balanced, compatible goals from this vision, you can then use wise planning to work toward these goals that lead to your destiny. Always be aware, however, that along the pathway there will be pitfalls to avoid, hills to climb, valleys to rest in and possible detours. But if you keep your vision and goals firmly in mind, you will pursue and find your destiny.
Set good, healthy goals, and throughout your life’s journey you should find joy, peace, love, strength of character and many things that will make your life worthwhile.
LMI JOURNAL, VOLUME IV, NUMBER 3 Leadership Management® Institute
Reprinted with permission === Strategic Essentials is a Managing Partner for Leadership Management® International, Inc.
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