You have many choices to make each day. Your vision is a filter through which you eliminate choices that don’t make sense for you. Vision keeps you focused on the opportunities that are more aligned with your desired future. When you are aligned with opportunities that support your vision, making the “right choice” becomes easier.
When you envision what you want, it becomes easier to choose between what is an impulse and what truly serves you.1,2 Before making an important choice, take a moment to connect to your visions. For example, if your vision is to become debt-free, connect to that vision before you buy something. When you connect to your vision, it will guide you to whether that purchase fits with what is most important to your future.
With a clear vision, you can feel more confident that the decisions you make will take you in the right direction. This is important because how you actually get to where you want to be may be a winding and indirect path. Unexpected detours and opportunities may arise. Maintaining a clear vision helps you identify which changes are opportunities that will move you toward your desired future.
Have you ever gone to the grocery store hungry, without a shopping list? You walk down the aisles, putting many different products into your basket on impulse. When you get home and start putting the items into the cupboard, you might wonder, “Why did I buy all of this stuff? I don’t even need most of it!” Your vision is a shopping list of what you want from life. As you walk through the grocery store of life with its infinite goodies and options, your vision makes the choices easier.
When you make a decision you usually have several opportunities to choose from. You can never know for sure if one decision is better than another. But, if you connect to your vision, you can know that your decision was grounded in your best understanding of what will make you the most happy, and satisfied.
Notes
1 R. May, Love and Will (New York: Norton, 1969).
2 E. Schein, Process Consultation: Its Role in Organization Development, 2nd ed. (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing, 1988).
