How To “Cast Your Vision” And Create A Brighter Future in 2020
Written by Ben Robinson
Position
Want a brighter future? Today, I want to talk about getting what you want out of life, whatever it is you plan to accomplish.
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In this article:
- What Is a Vision?
- What Does It Mean to Have a Vision?
- Casting Your Vision for a Brighter Future
- Successful People Have Their Own Vision in Life
- Looking Back from the Future
- Why Casting Your Vision Forward Works So Well
- Speaking Your Being Forward into a New Reality
- Considerations When Imagining Your Vision
- Why Does Having a Vision in Life Important?
How to Achieve a Brighter Future Using Your Vision
What Is a Vision?
Before I talk about how you can achieve a brighter future, let me first talk to you about a crucial aspect you’ll need — your vision.
How is your vision different from your goals?
- Goals are individual things you want to achieve. These are the things you work for and can be categorized into short-term and long-term goals.
- Your vision is a bigger picture of your life — who do you really want to be and what kind of legacy do you want to leave on this earth. Your vision helps provide a roadmap for your goals.
Your vision is your ultimate “why,” and should answer questions such as:
- Who do you want around you?
- What life would you want to have at a certain age?
- What are your capabilities?
What Does It Mean to Have a Vision?
Having a vision means you have a clear purpose in life. In simpler terms, it means you have a big picture of what your life would look like than simply putting out fires and setting goals along the way.
Essentially, having a vision means you control your life and not the other way around.
Casting Your Vision for a Brighter Future
As we move into the holiday season, you might be expecting me to tell you about “setting goals” for the New Year. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but that ain’t going to happen.
In my experience, any momentum you gain by “goal setting” fades away by January 15th, no matter how good your intentions or resolutions are. The good news is that I have a different way to help you make your dreams a reality.
It’s a powerful method that was taught to me by a friend of mine, Dean Graziosi, author of Millionaire Success Habits. Dean explained to me that when we look forward through our goals, the likelihood that we’re going to accomplish what we set out to do is very slim.
But, what Dean has discovered is that if we imagine a vision of our successful and bright future, and we document the story of what that vision looks and feels like, it has a tremendously powerful effect in helping us achieve it.
Why? Well, by creating a powerful story – a narrative about our life and where we’re going – rather than just a simple goal, it activates our subconscious that moves us towards that future reality.
Dean calls this method “casting your vision” forward. Check it out here:
Successful People Have Their Own Vision in Life
The reason I love Dean’s method is because when I look out across all of the successful people I know, they all have a vision for what their life should look like. They all have a crystal clear vision of where they want to go in every facet of their life.
That’s what I want for you. I want to impart this knowledge to you because very few people talk about this.
Everybody talks about goals, and while goals are good, they have to be considered in the context of a greater vision of our lives and where it is that we want to be.
Looking Back from the Future
So, how exactly do you do Dean’s method?
Well, Dean’s preferred method is to imagine yourself in your successful future and to write about what the previous year looked like.
Here’s how to cast your vision looks in practical terms:
- Put aside approximately 50-60 minutes of your time.
- Sit down somewhere quiet, where you’re free from distractions, with a pad of paper and a pen or pencil.
- You want to be totally focused on this task and give it your full attention.
- Start your timer and simply write your diary entry for December 31st of next year.
- You start out by saying, “Today is (today’s date). Next year, the end of next year, this is where I’m going to be…”
- Then, you write a diary entry as if it’s December 31, 2020, and you’re looking back over the last year and all that you’ve accomplished.
The secret to doing this correctly is to document everything that’s happened in each facet of your life:
- Financial
- Physical/Health
- Spiritual
- Vocational/Professional
- Family/Relationships
- Creative
- Education
Those are the big ones, but no doubt more aspects apply to you specifically.
I want you to look back on every single one of those and say, “This is what has happened.”
It might feel a little awkward at first but stick with it. Once you get “in the flow” and you start writing the narrative of your future life, you’ll hit your stride.
Why Casting Your Vision Forward Works So Well
Now, the reason this is so powerful to create a brighter future is because we, as human beings, have a deep attachment to stories. That’s just how we’re wired.
It’s within our DNA, so you can either fight it or use it to your advantage.
In my experience, when we write a story about ourselves, guess what? We’re compelled to complete that vision and make that story a reality, as much as possible!
This isn’t just something where you write a sentence or two. I want you to spend time and think about the specific details of each situation: what your life is like, what you do, where you go, and how you feel.
If you do this the right way, you should have 10-15 pages. That might sound overwhelming, but it can change the entire trajectory of your life.
I’ve done it for my life for 2018, and I want to encourage you to do the same thing.
Speaking Your Being Forward into a New Reality
Now, once you’ve written out your diary entry detailing the new vision for your life, we’re going to take things a STEP FURTHER. More than simply write it, we’re going to speak our beings forward into a new reality.
What does that mean? Well, first, you want to review your work and see if there are any changes or modifications you want to make to it.
Get it feeling good to you. Change a few words here and there. Make it a story.
This may take you some time, but it’s an investment in you. It’s an investment in a brighter future.
Then, once you’re happy with where you’ve gotten it, you’re going to read it out loud. You’re going to speak AS IF YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED IT at the end of the year.
That might sound a little weird, right? But trust me, this creates a great impact.
When I did this, I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise up.
While you’re reading it out loud, you’re going to record it on your phone or a recorder. Get an app called rev.com, which is an automatic transcription service, and speak into that app.
Upload it and let them transcribe it. If it’s 20 minutes, this will cost you 20 bucks.
It will be the best 20 bucks you’re ever going to spend. Once you get it back from Rev, you’ll have your future in a written form, in an oral form, and in a transcribed form that you can print out.
From this, you can then create a vision board (which I love), where you can take pictures that represent this future and stick them on that board. I keep mine in front of my desk, so I see it all the time.
Do I look at it consciously every single day? Absolutely not.
Do I look at it consciously on a monthly basis? No.
But, in my subconscious, it is there. I see it every day, and I work towards it.
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Considerations When Imagining Your Vision
1. Answer the Question — What Matters in Your Life?
Your answer to this question is important in creating your vision because it’s your starting point.
You don’t have to come up with a perfect answer because the point here is just to determine what motivates and inspires you in life. Once you’ve figured what these are, you can take a second look at how it aligns with your vision and vice versa, and what you need to do turn that into reality.
2. Categorize Your Priorities
Among the things that matter to you, which ones are more important or immediate than the rest? Once you’ve figured out your priorities and ranked them, ask yourself whether they support your vision or if something needs to be adjusted to align with it.
3. Create a Statement or Conclusion Describing Your Ideal Life
Once you’ve come up with a vision for your life and figured out what you need to do to achieve that, it’s time to write it down. Having your vision in front of you in black and white helps you go over it again and see if everything feels right to you.
It should contain:
- An overall description of your ideal life
- A list of the most important goals
- What matters most to you
Why Does Having a Vision in Life Important?
You can use a vision for a brighter future in two ways: inspiration and prediction.
- Inspiration — It inspires you to achieve what you want and who you want to be.
- Prediction — Having a vision allows you to predict changes that may come your way.
There are several benefits to having a vision:
1. Helps Keep You Focused
Having a vision is a powerful way to keep you focused on your goals. It allows you to stay on track regardless of what challenges or issues come your way.
2. Allows You to See the Future As a Reality, Not a Dream
Having a vision also lets you understand that the future is a reality, not a dream. Having a more realistic look at your vision grounds you and reminds you that a better future is something you have to work for, not fantasize about.
This can motivate you to come up with concrete goals, take actual steps, and grab opportunities as they come so you can turn that vision into a reality.
3. Is Inspiring
Creating a vision can inspire since it gives you an idea of what you can be. It motivates you to keep working until you finally achieve that dream of who and where you are in life.
Your vision also plays an essential role during stressful times because it reminds you of why you’re doing what you’re doing and what’s at stake. It motivates you to persevere because there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
4. Makes You More Creative
The clearer your vision, the higher the chances of it succeeding.
Your vision lets you see things from a bigger perspective. In this way, you:
- Identify problems and potential obstacles before they arise
- Find solutions to potential problems
- Figure out how you can achieve your dream of a better future
Visualization allows you to exercise and improve creativity because it expands your mind to think beyond what’s here and now.
So, there you have it; that’s how you can get what you want out of life in 2020. Although having goals matters, focusing on your vision first can significantly help you achieve the reality of having a brighter future.
Follow Dean’s method in reaching what you want and see how it brings results to your life!
What does your vision for the coming year look like? Have you done something like this before? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below!
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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on December 6, 2017, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.
