With the holidays officially over and focus now turned to the new year many people will break out the magazines, scissors and poster boards to create their 2018 vision boards but I want to share a slightly different take on visioning that I will be trying for 2018.  I’ve recently attended several workshops focused on life and career strategies including one last month led by Lisa McCarthy of The Fast Forward Group designed to help you set your vision for 2018. The idea is to fast forward one year from today and describe what extraordinary success looks like for your life as though it has already happened.  That’s right, you are standing at the end of 2018 describing your life in the past tense…your ENTIRE life, personal, health, work, family, finances, EVERYTHING as though it has already happened.

I will be writing this vision descriptively and boldly and here comes the audacious part…I am supposed to share it with my team, manager, family and people who are important to me and will be impacted by or have influence over my vision. I was so inspired by this workshop that I would like to invite you to also declare your vision BOLDLY for 2018. You will refer to your vision throughout the year, reading it weekly is ideal and this will help you to seek opportunities and make decisions that align with your vision.

I declare that 2018 will be a transformative year!

Here is a description of the Fast Forward Vision Exercise straight from their website http://www.fastforwardgroup.net/vision/ to help guide you:

Fast Forward one year from today – what does extraordinary success look like for you?

• What were your accomplishments professionally? Be specific, describing the outcomes that you and your team produced. Use key metrics so you can track progress.
• Describe the culture of your team.
• What were your accomplishments in other areas of your life that matter to you? Be vivid and specific. Areas can include: health/well-being, relationships, family, friends, community, recreation, finance, home, etc.
• How did you grow and improve?
• Describe the quality of important relationships.
• What is your outlook on life?
• What are you known for?

Additional Direction:

• Consider: Why is this important to you?
• Share about your year as if it’s already happened. Use past and present (vs. future) tense.
• You do NOT need to know HOW to get there.
• Visions are usually 1-3 pages in length in essay form vs. bullets. The questions above are to direct the thinking vs. be answered in a linear way.