As a young professional, it is absolutely critical that you develop a vision of your successful future. You must have a clear idea of what you want your future to look like and then you can create a specific plan to get you there. Nothing is more important as a young professional than knowing where you want to be in the future; aligning your actions to this vision will allow you to reach your goals and dreams.
The objective of this exercise is very simple – you will think about what your successful future looks like through your eyes on this day. It has already been discussed that often as people get older they give up on the dreams they had when they were younger and become complacent. By writing down your vision and aligning your daily actions to it, you will not allow your dreams to diminish as you get older and life becomes more complicated. This exercise will force you to dream big, something that very few people in this world are capable of doing.
Read through the following and write down your answers to each of the questions. Use these questions to help you clarify what your successful future looks like:
• Do you want to start a family?
• Will you ever support anyone financially (such as helping parents or putting children through college)? If so, who will you be supporting? How do you feel about this?
• Do you want to actively participate in your religion? If so, how would you like to be involved?
• Are there any organizations you would like to volunteer for? If so, which ones and when? How many hours do you want to spend volunteering each week?
• When do you plan on retiring? How much a month, in today’s dollars, will you need each month to live on?
• What type of home do you live in? What does it look like? How big is it? How does it compare to the other homes in the neighborhood? What are your neighbors like?
• How many really close friends do you have? How often do you talk to them?
• How often do you travel? Where do you go?
• Who are the most important people in your life? How close are you to them?
• What kind of a car do you drive?
• What will you need to accomplish personally in order to feel successful?
• What are you doing to have a positive impact in your community?
• Are you being financially responsible?
• How important is it for you to have what you feel is a great career?
• What are you doing each day to learn more about your profession?
• How important is it to you that others perceive you to be successful?
• Would you rather be unhappy making a lot of money or love your career making much less money?
• Would you rather be unchallenged and bored while making a lot of money or making a lot less money while learning a lot and constantly being challenged?
• Do you ever want to own your own business? If so, when?
• Will you go back to school to get an advanced degree/designation? If so, what will you study, when will you do it and where will you do it?
• How much money each year do you need to make in order to be happy?
• What are you truly passionate about? Are you doing this each day? If not, what is holding you back?
• What do you need to accomplish professionally in order to feel successful?
• Who are you mentoring? Who is mentoring you?
As you read answered the questions above, did you begin to have a clearer idea of what your vision of success may look like? I strongly encourage you to take those answers and write a few paragraphs on how you visualize your successful future. Make sure to write it down in present tense; for instance, you might say “I have three children, a great wife, a successful business and….”. The more specific you are with your vision, the easier it will be for you to reach it because you will constantly be visualizing it while making any important decision. Get started on your vision immediately – the sooner you start, the sooner you will reach your vision!