In an ever-changing world, it can be tempting to want to change your Vision when things seem uncertain or you can’t see the future clearly.
Things can shift SO rapidly, and as a professional, no aspect of business or life is immune.
Everything is subject to change. But there is one thing that should remain unchanged: your Vision (you’ll notice we don’t say goals a lot around here).
The success of where you want to go depends largely on how close you stick to your Vision.
To better understand this, we’ll be breaking down:
The importance of sealing your vision
What you can do when unexpected changes happen
How to be honest to yourself and stay true to your sealed vision
Why you shouldn’t sanitize your vision to match your circumstances
Why you should seal your Vision
The very first step before sealing your Vision is to go through the Visioning process itself.
Once you’ve refined it, fleshed it out, and created a cohesive document that represents all facets of the Vision for your life, it’s time to seal your Vision.
Sealing your Vision means you OFFICIALLY commit to your goals. You decide you’re done with the editing phase.
I recently achieved my second five-year Vision on June 1, 2022.
During the past five year period, I haven’t changed a word in my Vision.
Because once you’ve sealed your Vision, you’re ready to move on to reverse engineer your Vision.
You’re ready to work backward to create the roadmap to make that Vision happen.
A common pitfall I see with leaders that never get around to sealing their Vision is that they remain STUCK in editing mode.
You never even get to the part of road mapping your Vision, because you’re constantly revising it, again and again.
Instead of channeling your energy back into a Word document and editing things as you go, you want to think of your Vision as a sealed, non-editable PDF file.
There’s a certain point where you've got to say I'm done with planning and revising, and I’m ready to start making my Vision HAPPEN
You’re focusing that energy on moving forward instead of staying stuck in editing mode.
This is fundamental in sealing your vision.
What to do when unexpected changes happen
You’ve heard the famous quote that change is inevitable.
And when you’re on the path to your destination, something can happen completely unexpectedly that rocks your world.
So what do you do then? How does it affect your “sealed” vision?
You recognize this is one of the most important times for your vision NOT to change.
Your vision is your destination; it's where you're going.
Take, for example, a road trip that you’re on and you’re getting to your destination. And on the road trip, you might hit roadblocks. These can look like:
A detour where you weren't expecting
You’re in a traffic jam
The car might break down
...and anything else that may happen that you didn’t anticipate.
And just like on your path to your Vision, something completely unexpected might come out of the blue you didn't know was going to happen and you weren't prepared for.
But it's not like you're going to give up on your goal, right?
Instead, you're going to figure out how to navigate around that obstacle to get to your destination.
You may have to change vehicles, or change roads.
Work around your obstacles
You're not just going to turn right around or go back home, where you came from. You're not just going to give up and just sit there on the side of the road for the rest of eternity.
You keep going. And the same goes for your Vision.
This is why when so many things are changing and it's easy to get pulled in different directions, you have your Vision that you can always come back to.
Because just like the destination on the road trip, it’s not a moving target. Your Vision is sealed.
And when you have a solid destination set, you’re able to be more:
Free
Intentional
Productive
Creative
Innovative
You’re able to navigate around obstacles and get to where you want to go.
Conversely, what happens to those who aren’t going anywhere?
Oftentimes it's because their path and their vehicle are always changing, as well as their destination.
And unfortunately, as business owners, if you have both of these variables always changing, you won’t be able to reach the future you originally envisioned for yourself and your business.
Stay honest with yourself
Be true to yourself.
When things come up that you weren't expecting, or maybe something really tempting happens, you need to recognize what it is and understand what could happen to your Vision if you give in to this new shiny object.
You think, oh maybe I could just do that. Maybe you think it’s not something to worry about it because it’s only a short-term gain.
But what you may not be aware of is that temporary win was at the expense of your long-term vision.
So, what can you do to help yourself get back on track?
👉🏼 Call back to your sealed Vision and remind yourself of its original intent.
Have a conversation with yourself.
Acknowledge that yes, you know this sounds AMAZING in the short term.
But if you’re being honest with yourself, you know that ultimately it's going to sacrifice a part of your long-term goals and you’re not willing to do that.
This may be difficult to do, so that is what your sealed Vision is for. It gives you a tool to stand firm and not make edits to your Vision, no matter how tempting they may seem in the moment.
The best way to stay motivated and inspired by what you do is to:
Be consistent with your values
Maintain an authentic connection with your clients
All the while being true to yourself. Focus on what matters most to you, and remember why you started on this journey in the first place.
Remember, with a sealed Vision you have the ability to go back to something that helps remind you of your path. Not just in an abstract way, but a physical representation - something that is documented and written down you’re able to reference any time you feel yourself veering off course.
Don’t Sanitize Your Vision to Match With Your Circumstances
The last piece when it comes to sealing your Vision is that you don't want to sanitize your vision just to match up with your current circumstances.
You may find that when you're getting off track to some part of your Vision, it’s easy to think you can go back and edit it.
You’ll probably want to tell yourself, Oh I didn't get to this target, I got to this target instead, and that’ll be fine.
But Visionary...that isn’t helping you.
You want to, again, be honest with yourself. Remember, if you set a target, you did it for a reason.
And if you're on track to your destination, you need to recognize and know when you’re off track.
Because it’s easy to tell yourself that you’re going to change your vision to match up with your current circumstances.
So if you need to AVOID sanitizing your Vision, what should you do instead?
👉🏼 You need to figure out how you can again navigate around the obstacle and still get to where you want to go.
Even if you've got to change the path or the vehicle itself, your Vision shouldn’t change.
Be able to recognize and understand where you are in the process. And by staying flexible and being able to pivot when you need to, you’ll help yourself stay on the path to your destination both professionally and personally.
And if you're having difficulty going through the process of sealing your Vision, I want you to know that I'm here for you and would love to guide you.