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When you think about a successful company, business, or corporation, what is one thing they all have in common? Yes, it is a vision statement. Most companies have vision statements that declare the big aspirational goals and the impact that they want to have as a company on their consumers or the world. The vision statement serves as a guidepost for where the company is going and gives employees an understanding of how their work is contributing to the big ideal.
Just like a company, individuals can create personal vision statements for their lives. Vision statements are especially helpful when you have gone through a major transition such as divorce, as this will be a time when you will need to figure out who you are, where you are going, and the aspirational dreams that you may have for yourself.
A vision statement is a declaration about the overall vision that you have for your life. It helps give you clarity about the direction in which you want your life to go. It illustrates the beliefs, values, and standards in which you live or aspire to live. It can be a long-term vision statement based on your personal life or your career goals, or it can encompass humanity. It does not need to specify milestones or specific steps to get to the vision, just the overall dream or desire. It should inspire and positively motivate you.
The benefit of a vision statement is that it helps give you direction on the path of your life. It helps you understand your beliefs, values, gifts, and ideals. Reading your vision statement helps to keep you motivated as you move forward on your life journey. It gives you an understanding of the overall goal that you are working to attain.
A vision statement also helps you have discernment around the decisions you make. For example, when you are thinking through the decisions of your life, you can ask yourself, “Is this decision in alignment with my vision statement?” or, “Is this action moving me closer to my vision or away from my vision?”
First, take time to write out your values such as integrity, courage, kindness, creativity, freedom, or whatever you value the most. The reason this is important is that these words exhibit your personal beliefs about your life and what is important to you. Many times our values are what drive our behaviors and the decisions that we make in life.
Next, write down your gifts and talents. Do you have a gift for creating art, writing, dancing, singing, nurturing, etc.? Are you a math genius or great with technology? Write out what you believe is a natural gift or talent that would contribute to your vision statement. Feel free to write out your attained knowledge or accomplishments as well. Such as formal education, certifications, courses, or any achievement that you feel will add to your overall vision.
Lastly, write out your strengths or what you excel at in life. Are you a strong communicator? Do you have the strength to organize or manage people? Do you have a strength for physical fitness, health, or wellness? The point is to think through what makes you uniquely and write a list of those attributes. This will give you clarity around what you desire, believe in, and feel could support you in your long-term vision.
This step is about starting with the end in mind. Think about what you want the result to be should you accomplish your vision. For example, is the result of peace on earth? Is the result a better, cleaner environment? Is the result ending breast cancer or living a peaceful, more abundant life?
Think about what is important to you, what you desire, and what brings you joy. Is it about activism, an organization that you are heavily involved with, a group that you want to promote, or possibly a business?
Think about what you want people to say about you after you die. What would you want to have contributed to the world, humanity, or your life in general? Write down everything that comes to your mind. There are no wrong answers.
The action statement is the very first sentence of the vision statement. It usually starts with, “I intend to…”, or, “The vision that I have for my life is…” or, “I am creating…” or, “I intend to create/develop/build…” or, “I am using my skills in…” The idea is to write a beginning sentence that explains the action that you will take to make your vision happen. Don’t spend too much time on this, as you can always go back and change the sentence if you feel it does not fit well with the overall vision statement.
Now, it’s time to bring all the steps together and write the full vision statement. First, write your action sentence from step 3, then add in your values, gifts, talents, or whatever you wrote from step 1. Then, put your result from step 2. The idea is to bring everything together like mixing ingredients to bake a cake. Once you bring everything together, read your vision statement out loud and see if it sounds accurate. If any of it needs to be changed, feel free to change or modify that section.
The statement can be a few sentences or a full paragraph, it is completely up to you. Here is an example of a simple vision statement: “I intend to use my skills and gifts in communication, organizing, and management to create a charity that helps homeless women get an education, jobs, income, and housing to support themselves.” Again, play around with it and make it sound the way you feel is good for you.
If you want, you can create a vision statement for your life and create a vision statement for your career or business. You can create a vision statement for your marriage and family or combine vision statements. You can also redo your vision statement if you feel like it has changed or needs to be updated. There are no hard and fast rules, as these are steps to get you started on at least one vision statement for your life.
Writing your vision statement will give you time to reflect on where you are in your life, where you want to be in the future, and the steps you can take to start taking now to get there. This is helpful after a divorce when you are trying to get clarity around your new identity as a single woman and your new life.
If you want more support on how to gain clarity and rebuild your life, start here:
Don’t let more time pass by, reclaim your life today!
Tiffiny has a B.A. in Psychology, and master’s degree in Public Health Education. She worked in consulting for over 16 years, as well as previously owning a fitness and health business. In her personal life, she used personal development, mindset and health strategies to go from being overworked in a demanding corporate career, emotionally drained in a toxic marriage, physically unhealthy, and depressed to becoming an award-winning figure level bodybuilding athlete and entrepreneur. As a women’s empowerment coach, she works to help women get clear on their goals, build confidence, increase self-esteem, take action on their deep desires and create a life they love
