Have a vision - part II

In Have a vision - part I I discussed creating a vision from a story. This is a pretty fun way of coming up with your ideal life and is an entertaining read when you want to review your vision and goals.

Another way of writing out a vision statement is to just list detailed major goals by human dimension. The six major human dimensions I have identified are physical, mental, social, emotional, spiritual and financial.

Physical

Your physical dimension deals with your physical health. It involves goals such as weight loss, exercise, running a marathon and having six pack abs to name a few.

Mental

Your mental dimension deals with goals of the mind such as learning to play the guitar, memorizing scripture and learning to program computers.

Social

Your social dimension centers around relationships. It can involve goals such as having one on one talks with your children each week, being more romantic with your spouse or working on smiling more.

Emotional

As the social dimension deals with your interaction with other people, the emotional dimension centers on your personal emotions and attitudes. Some goals in the emotional dimension might be to stop using "victim language" or working on being more responsible.

Spiritual

Your spiritual dimension deals with your belief system. Some spiritual goals might be to live your life based on your list of values, reading the Holy Bible regularly, meditating/praying regularly and helping others with your time and money.

Financial

This dimension focuses on money and possessions. It is the easiest dimension to make goals for in my opinion. Objectives like being debt-free, saving a million dollars or owning your dream house are just a few financial goals.

Balance

In order to have balance and the best chance for complete happiness possible, you should work on all six dimensions. Goals for these dimensions should be SMART. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.

The following is a vision statement in the format I've described. All dimensions have been addressed and all goals are written in good detail. The SMART goal process will be detailed even more during the plan process ( a future post). These are just a couple of goals, a complete vision statement would contain much more.

Physical:
I will weigh 189 pounds by December 25th, 2008.
After achieving this goal, I will never let myself become more than 9 pounds overweight.
After reaching 189 pounds, I will complete the P90X 90 day challenge and will get some six-pack abs.

Mental:
I will become a Sun Certified Java Programmer (SCJP) by December 31st, 2008.
I will become a Sun Certified Java Developer (SCJD) by June 30, 2009

Social:
I will internalize the 30 principles found in Dale Carnegie's "How to win friends and influence people" by December 31st, 2008.
I will meet with my family every Sunday and discuss the family goals.
I will meet one-on-one with my daughter every Saturday to help her with her goals.

Emotional:
I will form the habit of thinking before I speak to avoid negative habits such as criticizing, complaining and sarcasm.
I will spend 15 minutes each night going over a list of things that I am thankful for to consciously acknowledge that my life is really good.

Spiritual:
I will spend a minimum of 30 minutes each night studying the King James Bible and will complete the entire bible by March 31st, 2009.
I will work daily on my personal development in all six dimensions of my life.

Financial:
I will be debt free (except for my mortgage) by June 30th, 2010.
I will have a six-month emergency fund by June 30th, 2011.
I will save 15% of my gross income into my retirement accounts starting July 1st, 2011.
I will help my daughter pay for college starting August 1st, 2011.
I will pay off my mortgage completely by March 31st, 2015.
I will have my dream house built on May 1st, 2020.

This type of vision statement also gets into the specific planning of the goals. It describes the goals specifically and gives dates in which the goal will be accomplished. It is not, however, a complete plan. I will post about having a plan soon.

The best approach, in my opinion, is to have both a story-type vision as well as a goal oriented vision. This will make for some inspiring reading on the weekly evaluation process.

Have a vision - part I

Today I want to write about having a personal vision. My Daily Discipline process involves 4 key parts:

1. Having a detailed written vision of my perfect life.
2. Having a detailed written plan on how to obtain my vision.
3. Having a detailed written system that forces me to complete my plan.
4. Execute! Execute! Execute!

The first step is to have a detailed written vision. You do this in the form of a story that goes through the major dimensions of humanity - the physical, mental, social, emotional, spiritual and financial dimensions. The story must describe your perfect state of each of these dimensions but should also be a fun look at how great life will be.

Another way, and the version I use, is to simply list each dimension and the major goals I have in each dimension. I try to be as detailed as possible and I visualize a typical day in my perfect life from waking up to going to bed.

The following is an example of a personal vision using a story. My real one is a little different (not by much!) and yours will probably be different too and that's okay, it's your vision after all.

My Perfect Life (a typical day):
This morning I woke up the way I always do...naturally. I haven't used an alarm clock in years. I don't have a job and the kids are grown so I don't need to take them to school. I have no place that I have to be in a hurry, my day starts when I wake up.

I look over and see my wife already awake looking at me. "Good morning", I say softly, "Feel like having some breakfast?"

We get ready at a leisurely pace and then head to our local Bob Evans for breakfast. We talk about the day and what we plan to do. We are in the process of seeing everything there is to see in all 50 states. Today we decide to travel in the motor home and have a mini-vacation in Gatlinburg Tennessee, taking in some shows and visiting the best local restaurants they have to offer. (Social/Emotional - Relationship with my wife)

The stock market opens in about an hour after returning from breakfast. I look through the Investor's Business Daily and review some picks that I've been watching for a while. I currently manage our personal portfolio of over three million dollars. I love investing! (Financial - managing our money).

Next I review our business portfolio. We have a construction company, a farm and a bookstore. I check my phone messages and see my accountant called to remind me of the monthly manager meeting happening in 2 weeks where I get an update on our business results and needs. We will be back from Tennessee by then so no problem. (Financial - We are set for life!)

My wife meanwhile has packed up some things for the trip. We take an hour or so and work out in our in-home gym. I weighed in at 190 pounds this morning (1 pound over my ideal weight). I keep track of my health religiously. I used to be a type-2 diabetic and definitely don't want to go back to those days again! (Physical - taking care of our health)

While working out my wife mentions our cooking class coming up. We are constantly learning new things and recently signed up for a class on Italian cuisine. Italian food is my favorite and we can currently make over 50 different Italian recipes alone. This class deals mainly with white and red sauces and different techniques for making pasta. I, in turn, tell her about a ballroom dancing class that is coming and we agree it would be fun to learn that skill as well. (Mental - constantly learn new skills)

We finally get packed up, in the motor home and on the road to Tennessee. Of course now it's almost time for lunch so we decide we'll stop at Red Lobster for our favorite seafood! Meanwhile, my wife calls my daughter, who lives in Tennessee, and lets her know we'll be coming down to stay at our cabin outside of Gatlinburg. We agree to meet her for dinner. (Social/Emotional - Relationship with daughter)

She also calls my son who lives in Texas and talks with him for a while. We will be going back to Texas to visit him and his family in two months. While we're there we'll make a stop in Houston and visit Joel Osteen's church. We've been to his church many times and love going there when we're in Texas. (Social/Emotional - Relationship with son) (Spiritual - Church service with Joel Osteen)

(End of vision)

Okay, I think you get the idea. A personal vision should be fun and reflect a balance of goals you want to accomplish in all dimensions of your life. This example isn't nearly as long as my real one. In my real vision I detail my dream house, cars, pets, physical accomplishments, skills that I've learned and so on.

Visions can also change. As you review your vision each week, you may realize that something you thought you wanted isn't as important as before. Or you might add some things you just didn't think of in the first couple of drafts. Your personal vision will also grow to reflect new goals you think of after accomplishing your initial goals. Life is a journey, not a destination. The purpose of life is to have purpose and a personal vision will help you focus on the purpose you have chosen.