Creating a Vision for the Future

In 2021, let’s say goodbye to New Year’s resolutions and say hello to creating a vision for your future!

We’re all familiar with typical goal setting and resolutions…that tend to last a few weeks before petering out. This cycle can happen over and over and be extremely frustrating when our desire is to change and grow.

So, how do we set a goal or an intention and actually achieve it? 

And how does having VISION improve our success? 

Creating a vision for your future includes attaching an emotion along with your goal. It’s an emotion that feels amazing — one that you want to feel again and again.

And then you need to visualize having that success and feel those emotions as if it is your present NOW. 

There was a Harvard study done that took 2 groups of piano players. The first group practiced at a piano every day for a set amount of time while the second group did not play; instead they were asked to imagine themselves playing the piano every day. At the end of the study, both groups performed equally well. Both groups had formed the same neural pathways even though only one group had actually done the playing. What does this tell us? Imagining the result is just as powerful as having the result! 

How to Create a Vision for the Future

Let’s think of that in terms of a goal you envision for yourself. Let’s take weight loss as an example. You can envision yourself wearing a smaller size. You can imagine the fun it will be to shop for new clothes in your new size. You can visualize the increased confidence you’ll feel. You can think about how awesome it will feel to have more energy when you are carrying around less weight! When we FEEL all these emotions as we imagine the results, it forms a neural pathway in our brain and our brain starts to support it as if it was real. 

Remember: you think the thoughts that generate emotions. Those emotions drive actions. Actions will get you the results.

There are many ways to help you create this vision of your future. Try creating a vision board with pictures representing those feelings. Try a vision journal, writing about achieving your goals in present tense as if they were already true.

Here’s my challenge to you: select something you want to improve in your life. (You probably have several at the ready, if you’re like me!) Then spend some time every day visualizing the results you want, making sure to add the emotion of success as if it’s already true. Feel it. See it. Involve all five senses. 

If you invest some time every day envisioning your results — envisioning your future — taking action will come naturally and your desired results become a reality.