The Why and the How of Creating a Three Year Vision Plan

 

It’s so easy to just float through life one day at a time, one week at a time, one month at a time and finally get to a place that the years are just flying by us.

If we reflect (which is rare) and are completely honest with ourselves, we’re nowhere closer to becoming the person we long to be in our lives. In fact we’re often further away in some or many areas.

 

One year ago, a clinical psychologist friend of mine challenged me to do something that I never ever considered doing. He challenged me to create a Vision Plan that outlined in detail who and what I wanted in and for my life a set number of years in the future.

Huh?

But the more I thought about it and really considered the value of the exercise, I realized I was hesitant. Why? It was because I hadn’t spent the time really thinking through what I wanted for my life in detail.

Sure, I wanted many of the “general things” everyone else wants in life but I never spent the time to process what I wanted in my own life in hopes they would every really come true.

It also meant I had to put some real time and effort into the process. And what if I didn’t know what I really wanted? Or what if it wouldn’t come true?

I just had to find out.

So I took the challenge.

 

1. The Purpose

Here is my definition of a Three Year Vision Plan – a clearly defined and descriptive picture of who you will become and what you will have accomplished in a set period of time.

There are three main parts to this definition:

Clearly Defined and Descriptive Picture – this is not a lofty, generic big picture dream but in detail plan

Who You Will Become and What You Will Have Accomplished – this is a focus on WHO you WILL become in the future along with your goals (both, not either or…)

In a Set Period of Time – this is not an open-ended “sometime in the future” time frame, but a set period that has an end date

I personally suggest a Three Year Time Frame. Why? One year is just too quick (believe it or not) to see real change in many areas. And five years just seems too far into the future. But you can make significant and exponential change in three years with incredible focus. And this is exactly what the Vision Plan is all about!

 

2. The Categories

This is the creative part of the process. It’s personal to you on which categories you ultimately choose in your Vision Plan.

Dr. Nick Howard puts in this way, “Essentially, vision work is about prayerfully developing or imagining ideal scenarios in the areas of your life that are the most important to you, that fill your heart with hope and energy and focus and perhaps wonder.”

These are personal but here are a few ideas:

Spiritual                                             Health (Nutrition / Fitness)

Wife                                                    Marriage

Parenting                                           Emotional Maturity

Personal Growth                               Purity

Finances                                             Friendships

Renewal                                             Involvement (Church / Community)

Vocation                                             Play

Home

You may use many of these ideas or just some of them. Ultimately, you need to choose categories that are important, motivate, and resonate with you.

Remember, this is YOUR Vision Plan of Who You Will Become and What You Will Accomplish three years from now.

 

3. The Process

A challenge this big doesn’t happen in an hour. It takes time. It takes thought. It takes mental wrestling. It takes revision.

If you’re a person of faith, I encourage you to pray through this process especially in Who You Will Become.

You will need to utilize Think Space often to make this process a reality.

I encourage you for the very first time in this process to take an extended period of time to make some really forward motion. I took a half-day to dream, think, pray, and simply mind dump ideas and it was invaluable.

I wrote anything and everything. After all, I was working on my life and my future. It doesn’t get more personal than that!

Once I had my categories locked in, I began to write who I wanted to become and what I wanted to accomplish in a unique way.

Dr. Nick Howard suggests, “Write in a way that best taps the positive emotions and energy that you want to experience. You then write out these images in the present tense as if they’ve already happened.”

For perspective, this process took a month for me to finalize my current Vision Plan that is both concise and complete.

 

Adding a Personal Mission Statement

I live my life by a guiding statement that I chose to begin my Vision Plan. To learn more about developing a Personal Mission Statement, click HERE.

This served as a reminder at the beginning of reviewing my Vision Plan what I felt called to do and my assignment I was on in my life.

 

Adding Your Values

I chose to add my Personal Core Values at the end of my Vision Plan under a summary section. To learn more about developing your Personal Core Values, click HERE. This allowed me to review my guiding principles on a consistent basis.

 

Quotes

 I’m a quote junkie and every once in awhile, I will find a quote that speaks to me at a deep level. You may consider adding quotes at the beginning or throughout your Vision Plan in key categories to motivate and inspire you.

 

Bible Verses

If you’re a person of faith, you may want to consider adding key Bible verses that are a life verse, season of life verse, , specific areas of growth, or to challenge you to become the person you long to become. I chose to add verses after my Personal Mission Statement.

 

4. The Review

 Once you have your Vision Plan complete, this is not a task that is accomplished that you rarely if ever visit.

It’s a live, working document designed to direct, challenge, motivate, and even convict you to become that person and achieve your goals you long to see become a reality in three years.

To be brutally honest, there are many days when I review that I am deeply convicted by my choices or lack of progress in certain categories. It’s not guilt and shame but re-centering and motivation to grow and improve in this area.

Yet other categories are thriving and I find a sense of energy and accomplishment that I’m actually becoming the person I want to be and advancing the goals I’ve set for my life. What an incredible feeling to be reminded you’re moving in the direction you’ve intentionally chosen for your life!

Some review their Vision Plan in whole once a week or a couple times a month. Personally, I review a section or page of my Vision Plan almost every morning.

I printed a hard copy for home that sits next to my Bible and the morning book I’m reading.

I also have a digital copy I put into a PDF that goes into iBooks on my iPad so I can review it on the road when I travel.

If interested in a copy of my vision plan, please email me at: Bryan@BryanPaulBuckley.com

Remember, the goal, if written properly, is to challenge you to daily become that person in the Vision Plan.

 

Closing Challenge…

You know what’s coming.

If you choose to take on this challenge, it very well may be one of your most difficult yet rewarding challenges you’ve taken on in a very long time.

Creating a Three Year Vision Plan falls under Important and Not Urgent but along with creating a Personal Mission Statement and your Personal Core Values, it literally could change the direction of your life.

I hope you care that much about your future of who you will become and what you want to accomplish in three years.

The reality is, three years is coming so why not have a clear plan of what you will end up at the end of that time frame?!

Take the challenge.

 

Closing Question…

Is this investment of time worth the possible results of ultimately who you will become and what you will accomplish three years from now?

 

Full Credit – This concept and post is solely credited to Dr. Nick Howard who has become both a mentor and close friend. This is his work that has challenged and changing my life and to whom I’m incredibly grateful. To learn more about him, please visit his site: http://finishwellgroup.com/meet-the-team/