How to create a vision for your life and construct an actionable plan towards achieving your goals.
AI's response in regular print | Beverly Hills, CFP®, Joe O'Boyle's in italics
“How to create a vision for your life and construct an actionable plan towards achieving your goals.”
Having a vision for your life and what you hope to achieve may help you to practice delayed gratification and avoid the traps of momentary impulsive behaviors in order to achieve what truly matters to you.
In financial planning, your vision may be for a worry free retirement without ever having to be concerned with running out of money. It could be putting your children through college and possibly graduate school because education is a deeply held core value. Perhaps your vision is to buy a vacation property by the ocean for the enjoyment of your family and friends to create annual traditions that deepen your family/friendship bonds. Your vision may be to save up for a work sabbatical, so you can travel the world for a year and hit reset on your current life trajectory. Perhaps your vision is to live and work in a new country with all the joys of exploring a new culture and creating new experiences.
Ultimately, investing is all about laying out money now in order to get more money back in the future. It’s all about forgoing consumption today (delaying gratification) with the expectation of greater benefits/returns in the future.
Having a vision for your life is a crucial element of personal and professional development. A vision helps to create a roadmap for where you want to go, who you want to be, and what you want to accomplish. By setting a vision, you set a purpose and direction for your life. This vision helps you prioritize your actions and time in alignment with your values, and aids in making crucial decisions when faced with various options. Here are the reasons why having a vision is so important:
Focus: A vision provides a clear focus for your life. It helps you identify what is important and what isn't, thus allowing you to concentrate your efforts on what matters most.
Motivation: Your vision can inspire and motivate you, especially during tough times. It serves as a reminder of why you are making certain choices or taking certain actions.
Decision Making: When you have a clear vision, it becomes easier to make decisions. You know where you're headed, so you can decide whether a particular action or choice will bring you closer to or move you away from your vision.
Delayed Gratification: Having a clear vision can help you practice delayed gratification. You are more likely to resist immediate rewards and remain focused on your long-term goals when you understand what you're working towards.
Avoid Impulsive Behaviors: A vision can help you avoid impulsive decisions or actions that may steer you away from your goals. It can keep you on track and prevent distractions or momentary temptations from derailing your progress.
To develop your vision, follow the seven steps below:
Identify Your Core Values: Ask yourself, "What are the values that are most important to me?" These could be honesty, integrity, family, success, freedom, etc. Your values will guide your vision and help determine your priorities.
—Sarah values family, community service, freedom, learning, and success. These are what she cherishes most in life and wants to ensure these values are a central part of her life.
—Tim values health, environmental sustainability, outdoor adventure, personal growth, and family.Define Your Personal and Professional Goals: Ask yourself, "What do I want to achieve in my personal and professional life?" These could be specific milestones like earning a certain degree, reaching a particular job title, retiring by a specific age, or more qualitative goals like maintaining a healthy lifestyle or being a good parent.
—Professionally, Sarah aims to be a CTO (Chief Technology Officer) of a successful technology company. On a personal front, she hopes to start a family and also create a scholarship for students from her local community to pursue studies in technology.
—Professionally, Tim aspires to own a vegan-friendly gym or fitness center. Personally, he might wish to complete a long-distance hiking trail, like the Pacific Crest Trail, and to start a family in the future.Visualize Your Ideal Future: Imagine what your ideal future looks like. This is your chance to dream big. Ask yourself, "If everything goes perfectly, what will my life look like in 5, 10, or 20 years?"
—Sarah imagines herself in a leadership role at a technology firm that values continuous learning and work-life balance. She sees herself with a family and actively engaged in her local community. She also pictures herself traveling to a new country every year.
—Tim envisions himself running a successful fitness center that promotes healthy and sustainable living. He sees himself as an accomplished hiker who shares his love for outdoor adventure with his future family.Identify Your Passions and Interests: Ask yourself, "What are my passions and interests? What makes me happy and fulfilled?" Your vision should align with these, as they will be the source of your motivation and energy.
—Sarah is passionate about technology, particularly AI. She loves solving problems and innovating. Her interests also include traveling and helping others, especially in providing educational opportunities for underprivileged students.
—Tim is passionate about fitness, veganism, hiking, and other outdoor activities. He's interested in environmental conservation and has a deep desire to be a father someday.Write Down Your Vision: Once you've gone through the above steps, write down your vision. It should be clear, concise, and inspiring. It should provide guidance and serve as a reminder of what you're working towards.
—Sarah writes down her vision: "To become a CTO in a successful technology company that values learning and innovation, to start a family and maintain a balanced life, to establish a scholarship for students in my community, and to travel to a new country every year."
—Tim writes, "I aim to own a successful, vegan-friendly fitness center that promotes healthy and environmentally conscious lifestyles. I envision completing the Pacific Crest Trail and sharing my love for nature and outdoor adventure with my future children."Set Clear and Measurable Goals: Break down your vision into smaller, more manageable goals. These should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) to ensure you can track your progress and maintain your focus.
—Sarah breaks her vision down into smaller goals. She sets a goal to take on more leadership roles in her current job to build her skills. She plans to save a certain amount of money each year for her travel and scholarship fund. She sets a timeline for when she wants to start a family, balancing it with her professional goals.
—Professionally, Tim might plan to gain additional qualifications or business management skills needed to start his fitness center. Personally, he could set a timeline for his Pacific Crest Trail hike and consider steps to meet a potential life partner with shared values and interests.Review and Revise: As you grow and change, your vision might change too. Regularly review and update your vision to ensure it remains relevant and continues to inspire and motivate you.
—As Sarah progresses in her life, she will review and revise her vision. For instance, once she becomes a CTO, she might revise her vision to include new professional challenges. Or, if her personal circumstances change, like having a child, she might adjust her vision to align with her new priorities.
—As Tim achieves his goals, or if his aspirations change, he will revisit and revise his vision. He understands that life is dynamic and his vision may need to adapt to unforeseen changes or new opportunities.
In financial planning, your vision could be several things like a worry-free retirement, financing your children's education, buying a vacation property, or saving for a sabbatical. The key is to identify what you want and what is important to you, then align your financial decisions and actions accordingly. A clear vision can help you practice delayed gratification and make wise financial choices that will bring you closer to your goals.
To help you get started thinking about your own goals and developing a vision for your life, here's a list of 20 personal goals across various areas of life:
Health and Fitness Goals
Run a marathon.
Adopt a plant-based diet for a year.
Achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.
Meditate daily for at least 15 minutes.
Career and Professional Goals
Gain a promotion to a senior role within the next two years.
Start your own business.
Learn a new skill relevant to your field, like data analysis or public speaking.
Become a mentor to a junior colleague.
Educational Goals
Complete a master's degree.
Learn a new language fluently.
Read at least one book per month.
Take a coding class.
Financial Goals
Save enough for a down payment on a house.
Eliminate credit card and student loan debt.
Increase your income by 20% in the next three years.
Create and stick to a monthly budget in order to develop a regular investment program.
Personal Development Goals
Develop a regular journaling habit.
Practice public speaking to increase confidence.
Learn how to cook gourmet meals.
Become proficient in playing a musical instrument.
Relationship Goals
Spend quality time with family at least once a week.
Cultivate a new friendship with a like-minded individual.
Strengthen your relationship with your spouse through regular date nights.
Reconnect with an old friend or family member.
Each of these goals can be tailored to your personal circumstances, interests, and needs. Remember to make them SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) to increase your chances of success.
SMART goals are an effective way to create meaningful, attainable objectives. This method has a number of key benefits:
Specific: SMART goals are clear and specific, leaving no ambiguity about what you aim to achieve. This specificity enhances focus and direction, reducing confusion and misinterpretation.
Measurable: SMART goals are measurable, allowing for tracking of progress. This aspect of goal setting provides feedback and enables adjustments as needed, which helps maintain motivation and a sense of accomplishment.
Achievable: SMART goals are achievable, promoting motivation and commitment. When goals are set too high or too low, they can demotivate due to the perceived impossibility of achievement or lack of challenge.
Relevant: SMART goals are relevant to your overall life goals and aspirations. This ensures your efforts are aligned with your values and long-term objectives.
Time-Bound: SMART goals have a defined timeline for completion. This creates a sense of urgency and helps to avoid procrastination.
By setting SMART goals, you can increase your likelihood of achieving your vision by setting clear, achievable targets that align with your values and provide a clear path for measuring progress.
What did you think? How did AI do?
About OpenAI’s ChatGPT tool:
GPT (short for "Generative Pre-training Transformer") is a type of language model developed by OpenAI that is trained to generate human-like text. ChatGPT is specifically designed for generating text in a conversational style. It is a machine learning model and has been trained on large datasets of real-world conversations in order to learn the patterns and styles of human communication.
Joe O'Boyle is the founder and principal of O'Boyle Wealth Management, a full service financial planning and investment management firm, located in Beverly Hills, California. Joe O’Boyle was named to InvestmentNews 40 under 40 class of 2016, and has a catalog of financial planning and investing articles on Money.com & U.S. News. Disclosure information.