Crafting a Personal Vision with All Five Senses

Goal setting tends to be on our minds this time of year. Goals setting, and goal achievement, are great, but setting goals without a clearly defined personal vision puts us on a hamster wheel that starts all over every January 1.

Eventually that is demotivating because we feel like we're never getting anywhere (even if we are).

Humans are story oriented and sensory animals, yet many personal visions read like the quarterly financials from a publicly listed company (e.g. "I'll make this much and I'll have this house and drive this car and go to this place for holiday...").

As Napoleon Hill said in Think and Grow Rich "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve"

Our minds can't conceive or believe a vision like the example above because it's boring and lacks sensory details that make it real.

When writing your personal vision draft it as if you are looking back on the X years that have past. As David Sandler said, "if you want to know the future bring it to the present." This engages your brain in finding a path to realizing that vision.

Also include all five of your senses in your personal vision:

• Sight - what do you see in your personal vision X years from now? The more descriptive the more your mind can conceive it. For example, instead of saying "my family," name each member, what they look like, how old they are, and what they are doing in your vision
• Sound - what do you hear in your personal vision X years from now? For example, waves crashing on a beach, the "thwack" of a golf club hitting a ball, or you cheering as one of your children participates in a sporting event
• Taste - what tastes do you experience in your personal vision X years from now? For example, a ripe peach fresh from the tree in your back yard, a fish grilled on the beach that you just pulled from the ocean, or wedding cake
• Smell - what smells do you experience in your personal vision X years from now? For example, the salt of the ocean as you cruise the Caribbean, a rain storm approaching your cabin in the mountains, or a holiday feast prepared for you and your family
• Touch - what touch sensations do you experience in your personal vision X years from now? For example, the rough face of the mountain you as you climb, the gentle touch of a loved one, or the sand crunching beneath your feet

When we tell our brain a story about our future as if we are experiencing all five senses in the present we set it to work on realizing that vision and creating a path so our future does become our present. Then when we set goals we are off the hamster wheel and on the path to the top of our personal mountain.

Until next time... go achieve your personal vision!