I mentioned in another post on this site the importance of establishing a routine and using habits to help you start small in achieving the life you want. One routine that I have every morning and every evening is waking up, washing up and either putting my contacts in or glasses on to help me see.
As I was doing this thing the other morning, I started thinking about one of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Begin With the End in Mind. The act of putting my glasses on reminded me of the importance of not only having a long-term strategic vision in your life, but keeping that vision at the forefront when determining your short-term goals and actions.
Here’s a great excerpt from Stephen Covey taken from the Fanklin Covey site, which gets to the root of what came to mind:
“Habit 2 is based on imagination–the ability to envision in your mind what you cannot at present see with your eyes. It is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There is a mental (first) creation, and a physical (second) creation. The physical creation follows the mental, just as a building follows a blueprint. If you don’t make a conscious effort to visualize who you are and what you want in life, then you empower other people and circumstances to shape you and your life by default. It’s about connecting again with your own uniqueness and then defining the personal, moral, and ethical guidelines within which you can most happily express and fulfill yourself.”
Give yourself some time to think about what it is you want to achieve in life – personal, professional, creative, lifestyle, etc. Start to jot down some notes. Google some ideas. Use what others have done as inspiration to start to bring shape to what you want in the form of a strategic vision. A strategic vision should be a short line or two about where you want to go and what you want to achieve. Here are some examples of vision statements from some of the best companies in the world:
Try and land on something succinct that describes what you want to do but that you can easily remind yourself of everyday. Maybe, say, when you’re putting your glasses on or contacts in to start your day. Keeping this fresh in your mind will help to ensure that your daily actions are aligned with reaching this longer-term vision.
Before you know it, all of your daily habits and actions will start to move your life in the direction you want. Nothing happens overnight, of course, but slight adjustments here and there can have a profound impact on your life when done consistently.