“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight, but no vision.”

I have been meaning to write this post for awhile now. What has been stopping me? The concept of creating a vision for your life, even just your year can be daunting. In some ways I was putting off clarifying my own vision for my year as well. Way back in January, everyone and their mother was talking about goals, resolutions, setting intentions and everything in between. I believe this is absolutely necessary and a very important part of designing a life you love. But at the same time, I felt overwhelmed by the process and the magnitude of the task at hand. The good news is that it is never too late to clarify what it is that we are striving for.

Over the past few months I have been experimenting with different ways to intentionally plan my days, weeks and months in order to feel like the best version of myself. Honestly, it has been a process of trial and error. I have done a lot of looking inward and getting crystal clear on who I am, who I want to be and the steps I can take to get me there. Living my life with intention and purpose started at the beginning with a clear picture of what I wanted my life to look like.

Living life this way, with purpose and intention is a far cry from where I was only two years ago. When I was basically surviving the day and putting out fires as they arose. These days, I have much more focus and an overall sense of calm when it comes to how I approach each day. It has all stemmed from deciding to get clear on the big picture first and working backwards from there.

As I was designing the Simply Big Life Planner, this big picture view was top of mind. Also, taking into account the fact that each one of us is so different. We all have unique strengths, values, and life circumstances. With that being said, we are all also human. We have hopes, dreams, and passions. I believe developing our own path to realizing each one of those things, starts with getting crystal clear on what they are, and being as specific as possible.

In order to create a plan and design days that have a purpose and point us in the right direction, we need to know which direction that is. Where are we heading. What is the overall picture we have in our minds when we sit quietly and think about our future self and life without restrictions. The definition of a vision is a “mental image of the future.” Fairly simple and straightforward, but not always easy to execute or hold onto when life starts throwing curve balls.

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My Vision Board

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I wanted a simple way to develop my vision and a way to keep that vision in my flow of consciousness on a daily basis. The hope being that the vision will directly and indirectly shape how I spend my time and what I do everyday.

What I came up with is a 5 step process to create and clarify your vision. This can be applied to whatever time frame you choose. I most recently used this process to refocus my vision for 2019. These are the steps, but I encourage you to make it your own! Have fun and be honest with yourself along the way. No judgement here. 🙂

1. Write out your core values. This is the cornerstone of the Simply Big Life method. I believe everything stems from knowing what our values are and doing our best to align our life with those values. These lay the foundation that will prompt you as you clarify your vision for the year.

2. Free write, journal, mind map…however you think best. Let it rip! All the things that come to mind when you picture your BEST SELF and your BEST life at the end of the year. The other part of the Simply Big Life method is to look at the 3 life categories: HOME: maintaining the home/ systems, WORK: passion/ focus/projects and PERSONAL: relationships/self development.

   Here are some questions to get you started, do your best to consider the 3 life categories as you are brainstorming. This is the meat of the process, so take your time!

   • How do you want to look

   • feel, show up in the world

   • what are you wearing

   • who are you with

   • where are you living

   • what are you doing daily

   • what are you learning, creating

   • what are you excited about

3. Look over your brainstorm and highlight or underline any recurring words or themes that come up over and over. As well as the words and thoughts that spark joy and motivation for you when you read them.

4. Take those highlighted words and thoughts, and craft 1-2 sentences for each of the 3 life categories. These are your final vision statements. The big picture, motivational words that you will read over and over again to remind yourself where you are heading! Make it personal.

An example of my vision statement for the home looks like this: “Our home is simple, organized and cozy. We all work together as a team to maintain systems that keep things running smoothly.”

5. Lastly, create a physical representation of the 3 sentences that you wrote. This can be a traditional vision board or you can keep it super simple with one word or picture that will remind you of your vision and intention.

There is no right or wrong way to do this. It can be a bit time consuming, but definitely worth the effort. Once you have these vision statements, you are setting yourself up for success! This is only the beginning of the Simply Big Life method. Stay tuned for the follow up posts that will walk you through how to set goals and develop the systems to support your vision!

I believe in you. I really do. I believe in the power of the mind and when we set our minds to something, we are powerful beyond what we can even imagine.