“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” - Michelangelo Buonarroti.

You’ve dared to dream big, but how do you go about creating your vision of that dream? 

When women become members of the School of Self-Image, one of the first things I ask them is to set an extraordinary goal for themselves. 

An extraordinary goal is audacious. It’s huge. It’s bold, daring, and – ultimately – it is life-changing. 

To reach that goal, however, you’ve got to visualize what it will look like and make a plan for creating it. 

You have to let go of limiting beliefs that tell you that it’s impossible, that you don’t deserve it, or that while other people seem to be able to achieve such things, you personally just don’t quite have what it takes. 

Finally, you have to think and act from your future self. 

So how does it work? What’s the secret to creating your vision to achieve your dreams? 

It’s simple. Let’s dive in. 

Why You Need A Vision to Reach Your Extraordinary Goals

If you don’t conceptualize and then work to create your own vision, other people and life circumstances will direct your course. As a result, your dreams, both big and small, will likely be left behind (at worst) or not turn out exactly as you’d hoped (at best).

Your vision defines your most favorable desired future state – it outlines exactly what you will achieve.

Experts, psychologists, master life coaches, and anecdotal success stories all support the idea that when you have a goal, a clear, well-defined vision of exactly what that goal looks like will render you far more likely to succeed.

Think of that vision as a sort of blueprint - a representation of precisely what your goal will look like once it has been achieved. 

Consider the story of the proverbial genie in a bottle. 

Imagine that you find a bejeweled bottle while out on a hike one day. It’s so extraordinary in all of its sparkling, ethereal beauty that despite how silly you feel, you’re inspired to give it a little swipe with your sleeve. 

Out pops that mythical genie you’ve heard about all your life, and you’re granted those three wishes. 

Now, from the stories you’ve heard, you know that genies can be tricky – you know that you must carefully define your wishes so that you get exactly what you want. So you carefully visualize what your wishes will look like, and then you ask. 

Voila. Your wishes – your exact desires – are his command.

That’s where vision comes in. 

Having a vision in your mind of how your life will look once you’ve achieved your goal will help you shape it exactly as you want it.

That’s just how reaching your goals works. 

When Our Vision Feels Out Of Reach or Fraught With Obstacles

Your big audacious goals are attainable. You just need a plan that is as much (if not more) about mindset as it is about action. 

We all have moments when we feel like giving up.

I hold onto my vision, even when I’m feeling a little insecure in the present moment. 

I hold onto my vision so that I am motivated forward and so that I never lose sight of precisely what my success will look like.  

When obstacles arise, I ask myself- where is the opportunity in this? What are the soul gifts? What can I learn, and how can I use this lesson to reach my goals? What potential is there in this to make my dream outcome even better?

I never indulge in self-defeating thoughts. I know that approaching each bump in the road with a powerful “Bring it – I was made for this” attitude will not only get me past such obstacles, but that my powerful mindset will also leave me feeling stronger, more confident, and able.

In my life, I’ve created unimaginable things for myself, my family, and my business by doing just that. Likewise, I’ve watched the beautiful women who I coach in the School of Self-Image do it as well.

Creating Your Vision Requires Believing In Your Power

Many women that I talk to don’t understand their power. 

When you doubt the power you have within, you end up creating the very things that you don’t want.

If you understand how powerful you really are, any obstacles that block your path will become your fuel for your fire. You will use them to get more creative and reinforce your deep understanding that you have what it takes to make your big dreams happen. 

Acting As If 

Holding onto your vision also means practicing living from your future. It means acting as if and taking the incremental steps toward making that future self a reality.

This is hard for our minds sometimes to grasp because we automatically want to look at what is currently happening in our lives. Or, worse yet, what was in the past. As a result, we base our thinking on what we can see in front of us or have experienced. 

Here’s the thing, my friends: When we have self-limiting beliefs that have been proving to us over and over that we are limited, we continue to see and experience more of the same. 

When we act as if - or live from our future- our brain begins to believe in that reality. Suddenly we see opportunities that we have never seen before, and we begin to expect things to come to fruition as we want them to. 

If you’re attempting to create your vision and still acting as if you can’t, or as if you’re not there yet, you will continue to perpetuate that reality, and you’ll never be able to move past those limits. 

Dress the part. Speak the part. Show up as your future self, and she will follow. I promise. 

Creating Your Vision With Intention To Get Exactly What You Want

A vision is mapping out a path to your dreams. When you see it, you can believe it, and then you can create it. 

Visualizing your extraordinary goal with intention and clarity will result in a life created by exacting design.