ENVISIONING "YOU"

As the summer season winds down, the market shows no signs of equally cooling off. Opportunities abound year-round these days. Having a solid career strategy means taking charge of your own "do-it-yourself" career development program. 

Using leisure time such as summer vacation is a great chance to set aside the daily demands of work, allow your mind to become a "white canvas", and focus on your personal and professional objectives and desires. This is the time to make your aspirations tangible by putting something down on paper. 

An excellent way to create this executable strategy is to draft a meaningful vision statement. Your vision statement is your future possible reality. Be realistic about the goals and objectives that you set out for yourself, but do not limit visualizing your ultimate dreams and how they can turn into reality. Keep in mind that your past is instrumental in establishing a realistic vision, but it should not put boundaries around your future. 

Career security and success no longer resides in a job, but in your ability to add value to an organization. Building a vision for yourself will not only make you more marketable career-wise, but it will enable you to clearly see and articulate your career objectives. 

Crafting your vision may seem daunting at first, but the following tips will be helpful in taking it from a dream into your reality.

1. Imagine yourself three or five years from now. Remember to dwell in possibility and remove boundaries from your accomplishments. 
2. What are you doing? What does your office look like, or do you even have one? What does your home look like? Be specific. A clear vision is crucial to link your desires to your future reality. 
3. What are your accomplishments and results over the past three to five years? Include all areas of your life, such as business, personal, financial, health, etc. 
4. What are the people around you saying? 

When you begin to compose your vision statement you may find it easier to write it in the third person, similar to a story. As well, if you are someone who has trouble visualizing yourself in the future, pick an individual you admire, or would like to be similar to. Then imagine a future vision for them and map yourself onto that. 

Start at the farthest point out and work backwards. For instance, if you are doing a five-year vision, start at year five and work back from that. 

Set annual milestones for yourself. This can include training and courses you will or might be taking. Once you have your vision statement on a yearly basis, set more specific objectives to accomplish each quarter. 

Although determining your career targets and how you are going to reach them is serious business, remember that most of all creating a vision statement should be fun! 

What we've outlined here is a small sample of the many available vision setting techniques. We welcome any feedback on these suggestions, as well as the experiences you've had in creating your own vision. 

We welcome your feedback on these articles.  Please e-mail us at pointofview@mandrake.ca .

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