014 How to cultivate your personal vision

Vision. A powerful word that we all alike to think we have. But how do we cultivate a personal vision for our own life?

 

In this episode, Leary and Armin fill in the last point from the previous episode (How to know if you’re stuck) by discussing how to intentionally cultivate a personal vision.

They kick off with the Inspire Me segment quote from the theologian John Stott:

“There is something inherently inappropriate about cherishing small ambitions for God.”

Every personal vision should be fueled with a belief that they were put here to by a great God, able to do more than we can ask, seek or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Cultivating a vision takes time. It’s not something done overnight and so requires intentionality, diligence and patience. It’s also something that should be written down, for writing focuses the mind and creates clarity.

Leary and Armin discuss four simple, but necessary steps to cultivate a personal vision:

1. Reflection. Personal vision can only be developed when you take time away to reflect and slow down. Some of the questions Leary suggested asking yourself include:

• What am I good at?
• What do others seek me out to help or give advice on?
• What am I drawn to? Inspired by?
• Where are the wounds in my life?
• Who have I helped in a way that was meaningful to me?

2. Socialization. Vision must be developed in community for two reasons. First, none of us are fully sufficient. We’re designed to be interdependent on one another. Second, we have a hard time see what is exceptional within us and need others to point that out.

3. Experimentation. Vision is cultivated when we experiment within our areas of interests and gifting. We learn more about ourselves by doing.

4. Observation. Honing a personal vision requires good self-awareness and tracking our responses to the various experiments we conduct.

While these steps are simple to understand, they take real intentionality to implement. Some of the resources mentioned in the Resource Me segment can help:

• The Call, Os Guinness, A helpful resource to understand the concept of calling that can shape your thinking about vision.
  
• Halftime, Bob Buford, Oriented to those facing middle life transitions from career success to significance. Good self-evaluation questions.
• The Path, Laurie Beth Jones, Easy to read and practical steps to unpack your vision and mission
• I Can Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was, Barbara Sher, Helpful categorizations and questions to ask yourself depending on your specific situation. Read Leary’s review of this book.

Our next episode is on how to create your personal mission statement. Please join us.