Tap into the power of a New Year’s vision

What if, instead of asking, “what do I want to change this year,” you asked, “What’s my one-year vision?”

The vision might be about, for example, something you want to do, an idea you want to set in motion, who you aspire to be, or a difference you want to make.

There are no rules for what your vision should look like (hey, it’s your life – you get to be the boss of it), but I do have a suggestion.

Make it something that inspires you. Make it something that engages you and pulls you forward. Make it something juicy enough that you want to dive in and keep engaging it – not just on January 1^st, but on all the way down the road on December 1^st (and 2^nd, and 3^rd…).

Think of a one-year vision as a way to try out a test vision for the bigger picture. It’s a way of exploring, “What do I want to do with my life?”

You might have a vision that has been lurking in your mind, just waiting for you to give it a chance to show up in real life. If that’s the case, fantastic! But if you find yourself scratching your head with no idea what that vision might be, the best place to start is the mighty question mark.

You can explore vision possibilities through questions like:

• What idea that inspires me have I not taken action on?
• What have I done that I want to build on?
• What do I want more of? What do I want less of?
• What do I want to achieve?
• What difference do I want to make?
• What impact do I feel called to have?
• Who do I want to be?
• What do I want my life to look like?
• What causes do I care about?
• What do I want my legacy to be this year?
• Who do I want to help/make a difference for?
• What is missing right now that I could add?
• What do I care about? What do I value?
• Who do I want to become? e.g., someone who ________ (takes action, builds relationships, helps people)
• What would it inspire me to do?
• Who do I want to do it with?
• If this were my last year on earth, what would make it worth living?
• What do I regret not doing/achieving/creating last year?
• What body of work do I want to create? Why?
• Looking back at the end of the year, what contribution would make me feel fulfilled?

A holistic look

Another avenue of exploration could be brainstorming the possibilities in different parts of your life. For example:

• Making a difference
• Work-related achievements
• Relationships
• Finances
• Health

That’s not to say you should have a whole bundle of visions to juggle. Choose one thing to focus on. But as you do, you will probably find that there are other aspects of your life that feed into that.

Let’s say you have an idea for a small-scale program you want to create to make a difference. Maybe you love putting on dinner parties, and you decide to blend that with your desire to make the world a better place by putting on a quarterly series of dinners as fundraisers for your favorite cause.

Your vision for the year involves putting on the dinner parties, engaging people in making a difference, and doing good with the funds you raise.

When you look at it holistically through the lens of, “What contributes to this vision,” you’ll probably find that many parts of your life affect it. Your health, for example. If you are making health decisions that leave you feeling more energized and less drained, you will have more inner resources to put into creating the dinners, reaching out to people, working with others, etc.

Same with your finances. You might realize that the vision would be better served if you cut out a few expenses that do little to add to the quality of your life and channeled that money to supporting the vision.

You might realize that there is a relationship component to the vision, as you reach out and connect and build community around the idea.

That’s just an example I made up, but I think it paints a good picture of how many things can feed into one central theme.

The vision is a container

The vision isn’t just about the outcome. It’s also about the container it creates for action and growth. As you start breathing life into that vision, it shines a light on questions like:

• What do I want to do/achieve/create?
• Who do I need to be in order to do that?
• How do I use my existing strengths, knowledge, and abilities to get there?
• What changes will help me get there?
• What habits can I develop?
• What am I learning from pursuing this vision? What do I want to build on? What do I want to let go? What do I want to change?

Bringing the vision to life

When you have your vision, it’s time to bring it to life. Again, questions are a great place to start. For example

• What steps/actions do I need to take?
• What habits would support this vision??
• What New Month’s / New Week’s resolutions would support this vision?
• Who can I reach out to?
• Who could I collaborate with?

Any of the other ideas in this series on New Year’s resolutions alternatives could also be put to use in service of the vision.

A parting thought

The coming year represents a significant portion of the total ticks on the clock you have available in your life. Tapping into the power of a vision can inspire you, focus your efforts, and bring you back when you wander off track. It can give you a positive perspective when you get lost in the negative thought-loops of the egosphere. And it can give you an answer – for this year anyway – to the age-old question, “Why am I here?”

What is your vision this year?

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