It is a cliché you will find in every self help book and it is definitely not original advice. It is a monotonous drone coming out of every success planning video you will ever listen to and advice as common as table salt. As boring and as old as the advice may sound, it works. And if you have not started doing this before, you need to start today.
Write the vision down. Write it in actual ink, on a page or a board and write it in the clearest and simplest way possible for you. Write it down in a place that is easily accessible for you, where you will get the constant reminder that this is where you want to go after a certain amount of time.
Habakkuk 2:2 (King James Version) And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
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Time after time, study after study has shown that when your dreams/goals/vision are written down, you are more likely to achieve them. There are many practical reasons for this, and I will focus on three. Clarity, focus and ‘a starting point.’
Writing down your vision allows you to clearly define what you want the future to look like. You are forced to clarify the grey areas, and to identify what is truly important to you. Should you pursue a career or a business or a life of ministry? Do you want 10 years from today to be working 7am to 5pm or would you want to live on a homestead? This clarity allows you to separate the nice-to–haves from the must-haves in your life, a distinction which then enables you to focus your attention, your resources and your energy on the must-haves.
Without this clear separation, life will present a flood of options and pursuing a single one, i.e. running will not be easy. Should you move country or not? When should I marry? Should you take job A or not? Should you quit to redirect your life or not? etc. And often, these options all lead to a destination with its own glittery attractions and choosing will never be easy. With written goals, you will have a filter to use to separate a good choice from a bad choice and the decision will be much easier.
Not only will the decision be easier, but you will be able to overcome the inevitable obstacles with conviction and resilience. Every path we travel on will have its own roadblocks and challenges. The passport process could take a whole year before leaving the country becomes a reality. The office will be full of politics, gossip and naysayers. Homesteading would mean early mornings, and late nights for some time. But with a clear vision, you will be able to focus on the dream and not the problems. You will be able to identify the opportunity where everyone else sees a problem and you will naturally be able to persevere where others would find quitting easier.
Lastly, when the end is clear, it is easier to know what you need to do today. every goal has its own process to get there, a process which takes time. Often, the lack of clarity about what the end should look like delays the beginning. Without clarity, we delay the application for an MBA because we are not certain we will need it, we delay the registration boards in foreign countries because we do not know which one we want to go to. We forget that time will pass anyway and are afraid to waste resources starting because we are not sure we will like the harvest that comes.
So today, as we continue on the journey to plan for your life beyond 2020, I am asking you to take the time to write your vision down. Take however much time you need to clarify the grey areas. Even if it takes a month to write your goals down, that month will set you up for many years to come.
Selah