In today’s episode of the Inspiration2grow podcast we are going to talk about taking a look at where you are in life currently and considering your life’s aspirations or values. Everyone has different priorities as well as milestones which they want to achieve. We refer to these goals as our ‘pillars of life’.
Pillars of life can be thought of as foundations that both guide us and provide stability while giving us balance at the same time. In today’s show, I hope to help you identify your pillars and gain clarity around what you really, truly want within each area. That is the essential first part of creating your life vision.
Imagine you’re going to meet your friends at an amazing Hawaiian resort. Sounds beautiful, right?
You land safely at the airport, grab your luggage and jump into a rental car. Then you type in the address into the car’s GPS.
You know exactly where you are going, so getting there is easy.
However, if you didn’t know the address (or at least the name of the resort), it would be a completely different story, because there are a LOT of resorts in Hawaii that you could potentially end up at.
Well, it’s the very same thing when it comes to reaching your big, audacious goals and dreams.
You need to know WHERE you’re going if you ever want to end up there.
How? By creating a life vision for everything you want to achieve. This doesn’t have to be complicated…
In fact, I’ll help you get started today with Part 1 of how to create a life vision.
Once you have yours in place, success will come faster and easier for you. Why? Because “wrong turns” will be a thing of the past and your internal GPS will know exactly where to lead you even if the journey doesn’t go as planned.
So, let’s dive right into the practical part of creating your life vision…
The biggest thing that prevents people from taking action on their future dreams and goals is not having clarity around what that future actually looks like for them. When you have extreme clarity, whatever fears, obstacles or distractions arise on the journey, it will be hard for you NOT to keep moving in the right, desired direction. It is this CLARITY that will help your overcome fears and obstacles, be your guiding North Star and provide the necessary strength and conviction to stay the course.
Clarity itself is one of the most powerful tools you can use to accomplish the life you want, the goals you desire to reach and the big accomplishments you set your mind to.
Part 1 on this process is by no means complex or complicated but it does require some thought and deeper consideration.
This exercise can be done at the onset of a new year, or even every six months or perhaps quarterly just to assess whether you are on track or not. Your course might need a few adjustments and that’s perfectly okay. You will need to revisit and tweak accordingly.
So, I want you to imagine 5 tall, strong pillars holding up the roof of a building. I came across the exact structure I always imagine when I do this exercise on a trip to Puerto Rico. It was an open structure in the middle of a grassy area surrounded by tall palm trees, with the most beautiful marble inlay floor, no doors, no windows, no walls – just the white pillars and the roof.
In this exercise, each of these pillars are going to represent an important area of your life. And to be clear, everybody can decide on the number of pillars they will have – some will outline 4, others perhaps 7, but there is not right or wrong number of pillars for your life vision.
Here are some common pillars people what to focus on: love, happiness, health/wellness/exercise & nutrition fall into this category as well, wealth/financial, relationships, personal development, career/business, spiritual, charitable/volunteering and giving back pillars.
Time to time, you might need to shift your focus to some areas more than others to maintain balance, but essentially, all the categories or pillars you choose will receive the necessary attention and work they need to stay on course.
Which ones are yours? Which ones do YOU want to improve on, set goals for, make huge achievements in?
I know one person who chooses 5 pillars: financial, career/business, relationships, health/wellness and personal development. For him, it is like 5 spokes of a wheel. And he maintains that all 5 spokes need to be moving forward (meaning: being worked on and improved) for the wheel to keep turning and to prevent a bumpy ride. If all of his 5 areas are balanced, then the ride is smooth.
Another person I know well has only 4 categories or pillars: love, happiness, health and wealth.
So, as you see, this is very individual, and YOU, only you can decide on which areas are most important for your ‘ideal’ life and vision. You are on a unique journey, so remember that your pillars might look totally different from those of a good friend.
In order to create your life vision, the intentions and goals you have for each area, I need you to picture or imagine your IDEAL life. The key word here is ideal. We are not making a 5-, 10- or 20-year plan with this exercise, we are zeroing in on one year and more specifically, one ideal year.
At this point it is time to become curious, deeply curious about what you want in each area and how you want things to be. You are going to dig deep and be extremely detailed with each pillar. Write down 3 – 5 bullet points or boxes to be checked off once accomplished for each pillar. Get specific and curious in terms of how you’d like your ideal life to look in each pillar.
Let’s look at a few examples to show you what I mean:
Some bullet points under the pillar of health might be –
1. Limit alcohol intake
2. Never sacrifice sleep
3. Drink tons of water
4. Avoid sugar
5. Only eat when hungry
Bullet points under the pillar of wealth could be –
1. Invest in the long term
2. Have an emergency fund
3. Live below your means for an extended period of time
4. Start and set a budget
Bullet point ideas for the pillar of love are:
1. Love unconditionally
2. Practice gratitude daily
3. Love yourself before loving someone else
4. Spend plenty of time with close friends and family who lift you up
5. Learn to forgive and accept forgiveness
Bullet points for the category of happiness could be:
1. Exercise
2. Never stop learning
3. Have an open mind
4. Complete fulfilling tasks
5. Avoid all sources of negativity
6. Choose progress over perfection
7. Protect your mental health at all costs
Bullet points for the pillar personal development could be:
1. Read non-fiction books
2. Journal daily
3. Begin breathwork as a form of meditation
4. Try new things each day or week or month
5. View failure as a learning experience not a setback
6. Become strong from the inside out
Remember, don’t be vague when listing 3 – 5 bullet points under your pillars. For example, if you want to drink lots of water, then get specific such as: I will drink 4 full water bottles each day. Or, if you intend on expanding yourself and your horizon through personal development, you might list “never stop learning’. Well, that is not detailed enough to follow through on or even keep track of your progress. You should be listing something like: I intend on reading one new book on mindset or personal development each month. See, that’s something you can keep record of.
The points mentioned are mere examples to get your own creative juices flowing and to, perhaps, spark an idea of how you could level up your life. You and I both know that there are endless ideas, but you have to choose what is right for you, aligned with your life’s vision and things that will light you up inside creating the best version of YOU.
There’s one pillar I believe EVERYONE should include, and that is the Fun/Enthusiasm pillar. Life is too short to live a mundane, boring, unfulfilled life. So, I strongly encourage you to add in this category to your life vision to increase the fun-factor, inject some adventure, ramp up the excitement levels and simply enjoy life to the fullest.
The pillars of our life’s vision help us to achieve balance by providing us with anchors to grasp on to when the waves of life rock our boat. These pillars can and should be continuously developed and solidified. A roof cannot be held up and supported properly if one pillar falls short or crumbles or isn’t as tall as the others.
Our goal is to create sturdy pillars and a solid foundation for our life’s vision.
As mentioned earlier, your pillars will evolve as your circumstances change and that’s okay. It may even take a lifetime to perfect your pillars, but the act of creating a path you deeply desire will give you the necessary clarity and confidence to keep moving forward and stay the course.
Just a few closing thoughts on your vision because, I bet many of you haven’t really taken the time to consider what your vision is or laid out a strategic plan of how to fulfill this vision.
Your vision of where or what you want to be is the greatest asset you have. This vision I keep referring to is the ability to see your purpose, your dreams, your desire and your tomorrow. And, I will leave your with two quotes:
“Vision with action makes a powerful reality.” ~Ron Kaufman
“Make your vision so clear that your fears become irrelevant.” ~Kerwin Rae
Keep in mind – this is only part 1 or 3 in the exercises of creating your life vision. By the end of the pillar exercise in Part 1 you should have complete clarity on what your ideal life vision looks like, with your chosen pillars including 3 – 5 detailed and very specific bullet points under each of these pillars.
Parts 2 and 3 will be coming to my podcast soon.
I would like to invite you to become part of the Inspiration2grow community on Facebook. The group name is: Inspiration2grow for Female Goal-getters. It is meant to be a community of like-minded women who want to grow strong from the inside out. There will be daily journalling prompts, nutrition and fitness tips, exercises to try, encouraging conversations among the community and lots more. So, be sure to join this group for support, new ideas and the necessary rocket fuel to propel your health and wellness to new heights.
You owe it to yourself to take care of yourself, show up for yourself and become the best version of YOU.
In case you haven’t heard it yet today, let me be the first to tell you…
You are incredible, capable and your potential is limitless. Never forget that and I believe in you 100%. Now, go out there and show the world what you are truly made of.
I hope to have inspired you to grow.
Til next time,
Lisa
