What Is Your Life Vision?

Last Updated on October 23, 2024

Before you start in activism, take time to examine your life. Why? Because a thoughtful approach to activism focuses on your overall life vision. Being clear about your ideal life means you will live your values in all areas, including activism. The result: in-depth engagement in your cause.

Your Life Vision

To create a vision for your ideal life, examine:

• roles
• your bucket list,
• learnings from your past
• how you make change
• callings
• values

Your Values

Because your values are the driving force of your life, it is essential to make sure you focus on the ones most important to you.

Examples of values are self-respect, quality of life, family, generosity, and courage. Once you have named the values most important to you, change them into I-statements. For example, “I have self-respect,” “I enjoy an excellent quality of life,” “I love my family,” “I am generous with others,” and “I face difficult circumstances with courage.”

Those statements are part of your ideal life.

[Are you ready to live your ideal life? Here’s how.]

Your Roles

Being an activist is only one role you play in life. You may also be a spouse, parent, employee, house cleaner, cook, gardener, and caregiver. Having a distinct focus will help you fulfill the essential roles and rid yourself of those not part of your vision.

Make a list of the roles you play in life. You’ll come up with dozens.

Here’s the kicker. We can’t handle more than five roles well. Most of us are trying to juggle many instead of staying focused on a few important ones

Create your list of roles and then narrow it to the five you believe are most worthy of your focus.

Your Bucket List

How do wants relate to making a difference in the world? I’m asking you to look for inspiration on your bucket list, the activities you want to do before you die (“kick the bucket”). Your bucket list holds items with no relationship to activism. But bear with me, because your bucket list is integral to finding your activism passion.

Your bucket list has experiences that matter to you. In fact, they matter so much you are saying they are essential to your life experiences. You are motivated and passionate – so use them in your activism.

[Everyone needs a bucket list! Here is how to create yours.]

Learning From Your Past

Look back at your life experiences and the people you’ve met. Learn from those experiences to help guide your life as you move forward.

Choices

What meaningful choices did you make in your life, and why did you make them? What would you do differently, and how does this help you look to the future? They say we learn more from our mistakes than from our successes. How can learning from your mistakes inform your future?

Dreams

As children, we are free to imagine our future without the burdens of being an adult. For example, when you were a child, what did you envision as your future? What did you want to be when you grew up? How might this change your future focus?

People

You’ve met many people in your life. Celebrities in the arts, entertainment, government, business, sports, and activism have affected you. Who do you admire and want to emulate?

How You Make Change

The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Unless you have a momentous change of focus, you tend to behave the same way as you go through life. Examine the ways you have made change. You may choose to continue to use the same methods that have worked well for you. Or this may tell you what you need to change in the future to meet your goals.

Callings

Author Tara Mohr has a chapter in her book Playing Big on your calling and how to recognize it.

You feel an unusually vivid pain or frustration around the status quo of a particular issue. You see a powerful vision – vague or clear – about what could be around some aspect of the status quo. That vision keeps coming back into your mind and keeps tugging at your heart. You feel huge resistance. A part of you wants to run in the other direction. You feel a sense of “this work is mine to do” or of having received an assignment to do a particular piece of work in the world.

Is there anything in your life that affects you this way? Something powerful that draws you even though you feel resistance to it? Pay close attention because it may be a calling.

Your Life Vision

Now design your vision of living your ideal life. Write your Ideal Life Vision.

Think of yourself in the future, 5, 10, or maybe 15 years from now. What do you see? Describe yourself living your ideal life through the roles and values vital for you.

Here is an example of a Life Vision, based on values. Notice that this does not describe the “how” of the vision but just what “is.”

I love and enjoy my family and friends. I have compassion for myself and others. My passion for art is part of all areas of my life – my environment, my career, and my activism. I live a life of honesty and integrity.

If you have not done this kind of reflection, I encourage you to. Although it may take time, understanding your ideal vision of yourself pays off in many ways. Your life vision guides all aspects of your life, including your activism.

[The 5-Step Activism Path Workbook contains surveys, checklists, and reflections designed to help you envision your ideal life. Start your activism journey.]

READ MORE

How to Find The Cause Closest to Your Heart

What Is a Calling and Why Do I Need One?

What Is the Source of Your Activism Calling?