The Puzzle of Life
As you may know, I frequently remind readers that the Building A Powerful Vision process provides the internal results of Clarity, Hope, Confidence, Momentum, and Happiness. The medium used in doing this work with individuals and teams is vision boards. A vision board is an external and concrete expression of the picture you hold in your mind of what you want to attract and achieve in your life. Once you’ve created your vision, you build belief through incremental successes. Early successes and commitment result in greater progress and accomplishment naturally follows (Find out more about this and find my books at http://tessdenton.com).
Once an individual creates and commits to a Powerful Vision, life becomes brighter. Good things start to happen. You get on a roll, and you feel unstoppable. Here’s the catch: As effective as my process and tools, or any tools and process you are using may be, you grow and change over time, as do the people around you. Life pulls at your plan, and you find yourself asking, “How do I keep my priorities and my plan in the forefront when new demands on my time and energies show up?” This is where Sustaining A Powerful Vision comes into play.
Sustaining a Powerful Vision and staying true to your vision is a journey, an art, and a science. I’m living the effort right now! In the time between the release of my last book, “Building A Powerful Vision Planner: A One Year Guide To Creating A Life You Love” and now, I’ve been attending to the many moving parts of my own life. During this time, I’ve made choices about the focus of my own career. I have adjusted my targets relative to the balance of career, consulting and creativity. I have deferred or scaled back my efforts on a number of new projects in order to participate in the life changes taking place for my parents, as they navigate life at age 87.5!
The result is that I’ve conducted more workshops, created fewer BlogTalk Radio episodes, and spent more time managing the journey of life unfolding. I’m not sure about you, but I have come to appreciate that my intentions and vision impact the way that I live my life, and that what happens in life impacts intentions and my vision.
Examples of the many things that can happen on the way to your vision for life and success:
- Families get larger
- Parents age
- Job transfers happen
- Priorities shift
- New dreams emerge
- Health improves
You may notice that one day, you wake up and find that your priorities have changed, and that you need to adjust your vision. Naturally, when life makes new demands, you accelerate some activities, you put the brakes on some plans, you wonder if you can stay on the path of your vision. On some days, you might doubt that you’ll ever figure it out. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed.
Today, I offer three steps to you to help you feel in control, if this is happening to you:
1: Find a quiet place, free of clutter. It is best to take a trip to a spot where you can be alone, perhaps with a cup of coffee and some great music. Step away from your home or office. Once you’re comfortable and ready to concentrate, placed a blank sheet of paper on the table. Write out the following questions and then your answers to the questions:
- What’s been added to your plate that has changed your sense of control of your time or your freedom?
- Is “what’s been added” draining your time or your energy or both? Write a few examples of how it is draining.
- Is “what’s been added” a situation or new responsibility happening for the first time or is it something that you have encountered before?
- Is “what’s been added” it temporary or permanent? How long is this new responsibility likely to stay?
- Is your new responsibility something you selected or intended or was it thrust upon you?
- How is it contributing to your life (for example, life lesson, additional revenue, more time to build relationships)?
- If you have a vision or plan for your future that you’ve been working on, do you need to or want to adjust your plan, based on your new responsibilities?
2: Looking at the last question, “If you have a vision or plan for your future that you’ve been working on, do you need to or want to adjust your plan, based on your new responsibilities?”, write a few statements about how you think you can stick to your plan for your vision, As an alternative, if it appears that you need to alter your plan, what needs to change and what can remain intact?
3: Review your list of questions and your intentions to stick to or adjust your plan to achieve your vision. Spend 10 or 15 minutes settling into the feeling of being back in control of your world. Notice if you feel more at ease and at peace with the changes that life is presenting to you. Once you are satisfied with your responses and you’ve had some time to sit with them, Fold up the paper, or take a photo of it with your phone (or both), and head back into the stream of life. Keep that paper or photo handy, and refer to it often. You may find that it serves as a grounding reminder of what is happening in your life and your intention to remain centered and in control of your life during challenging times.
As always, I welcome your comments, and make it a great week!
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