Visions are dreams with legs - they go somewhere! 

Have you ever noticed how we often learn the most when we are not expecting it or from someone we least expected to learn from? One time on a plane, I met a man with a walking stick, tapping his way to find his seat which happened to be to the right of my own. Because I am intrigued by people, I started a conversation with him. He told me stories of his life and his travels, and then I asked him at what point in his life did he lose his vision? He answered, "Never. I'm blind, but I still have my vision."

The beauty and danger of today’s society is that you need to keep moving in your own direction, or someone else will move you in theirs. If you don’t know what you want, it is easy to find someone who will tell you what they want you to do. If that suits you, this article is not for you. If you want something else out of your life, keep reading.

Life is a series of small decisions.

Each seems insignificant alone, yet together they make sense. Everything we do has some purpose, and taking charge of your life means having your own purpose and making your own vision, not letting others set them for you. All successful people have visions. Visions are dreams with legs- they go somewhere! The first step in writing your vision is to decide where you are going. Decide what you do want, not what you don’t want. Step two is that your vision must be within your full control and not by any other means. If your vision involves you wanting your kids to be happy all year, this is not about you. The third step for writing your vision is making it emotionally charged. You need to feel your vision through all your senses- touch it, taste it, see it, hear it, smell it.

Be emotionally jazzed about your vision, and you will begin to see better results.

Most importantly, your outcome must be stated in the positive- not the positive sense that makes you feel good, but positive in the meaning that you are moving toward something. For instance, if I ask you what you’d like most of out 2007, and you answer “I don’t want to be depressed”- this is not positive. Then I ask, “Once you are not depressed, what do you really want to do?”

Most people focus on what they do not want to do, rather than what they do want to do. They move away instead of towards. The opposite of writing your vision is problem-thinking. This focuses on everything that may not work. Vision-writing shifts the negative thoughts to positive ones. Remember to always move forward. You direct where you want to go.

Bondurant Racing School gives the average person the feeling of being a professional race car driver. One of the first lessons their manual teaches you is when you spin out, do not hit the gas, do not hit the brake, just direct where you want to go. Most people make the challenge of not directing- remember the car follows you. Everyone has heard the stories of someone wrapping their car around a tree or telephone pole. Even though there are only poles or trees every couple feet and there are tons of spaces, they always manage to hit that one pole, that one tree.

You can not have vision without direction.

When you begin to construct your vision, it must be worthwhile. It must express your values, otherwise why do it at all? Here are some helpful tips to get you in the right direction: -

Make the vision specific. The more specific you are about your vision, the more defined your objectives will be. How will you know when your vision is becoming reality if it is too abstract? Remember not to be a perfectionist. Perfectionists are too specific and settle for nothing less. -Decide how you will get evidence and feedback for achievement. Set mini goals to reach as you see out your vision so that you will know you are one the right track.