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Build it and they will come:
Create your strategic vision for the year
-by Laurie Owen
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Some of us do strategic planning for our companies, but how many of take the opportunity to create a strategic vision? I'm not talking about just a vision for your company, but for your entire life as well. Create the year you want by first creating a vision for it in the “build it and they will come” style. You can do this a couple of ways, depending on your personal preference.
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If you enjoy writing, pick a quiet time, sit down and write a letter to yourself. Pretend it's December 2006 and you're sharing how your year went. How are things with the family? Where did you go on vacation? What fun things did you do? What did you accomplish? What dreams came to pass? What are you most proud of? What surprised you? Yes, you'll have to make it up but that's the point! Seal the letter. You can share your letter with others, or not, as you wish.
For you visual folks, another way is to create a dream board. Buy yourself a piece of foam board, grab a glue stick and some scissors, get a stack of magazines, and put together a collage of your year. A glass or two of wine is optional. A couple of suggestions: if you picture material items that aren't currently in your budget, stick some play money on the board. (Otherwise you might end with what you pictured but in debt!) Once you finish your dream board, put it away so neither you nor anyone else can see it during the year. At the end of the year, take it out and see how much on your dream board is now in your life.
I had to create a dream board for one of my homework assignments in coaching school. At the time I thought the exercise a little too “woo, woo, ching, ching” for my taste. However, I cut and pasted and then dutifully stuck the finished product under my bed. When I took my board out a year later (and shook off dust bunnies the size of Volkswagons), I was amazed at how much had come to pass, great stuff that at the time I put it on the board was totally beyond what I ever thought could happen. This year, however, I'll be sure to include a picture of a housekeeper as well.
For you linear list makers, the other option is to use a form that allows you to fill in the blanks. Here's a
link to a really cool one that was developed by Coachville, an online coaching community. It's got spaces to list the 25 biggest opportunities/goals for the year, 25 environments (who and what are you going to surround yourself with that will help you achieve these things), 25 cools things you're going to do for yourself, 10 daily habits that will energize you, and 10 ways to simplify your life.
Try all three methods and see what works best. Letter, dream board or list - whatever method you chose to create your vision - have some fun with it.
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