How Your Vision Can Change Your Life
Embracing Your Career Vision
What if I told you that your biggest career dreams are within reach, even when you feel like you're failing?
I'm living proof that pursuing your dreams and turning your vision into goals and actions can lead to incredible transformations.
When I was at a low point in my career, convinced I was failing and not knowing how to move forward in my VP role, my coach walked me through a visioning exercise.
This moment led to my third major career change and is why you’re reading this blog.
My long-held dream for my career has been to teach and develop leaders through writing, speaking, and coaching, but I’d been hesitant to pursue it, mostly because of fear and impostor syndrome.
Why would anyone want to hear what I had to say?
In time, I turned that vision into goals and those goals into actions.
And, voila! Reality Vet exists and is growing every day.
I’m helping veterinary practice owners reach their dreams, which is my dream.
When I coach owners and leaders, the first thing I ask is what they want to do when they grow up, no matter how old they are.
Why do I do this?
Because until they know their vision and can tell me, I can’t really work with them.
I can only help someone who knows where they’re going and what they want, because they know where they’re headed, and they’re motivated.
And, while they may not have the vision when we start, they soon will, because it’s always a first step in our coaching journey.
Transforming Your Dreams into Reality
Until you define and go after your vision, you’re just going through the motions with no clear purpose.
It’s living on the hamster wheel with no forward movement because it takes vision and motivation to get from where you are to where you want to be.
This is where you start to change your life.
Some of the most successful people I've met had a clear vision and plan for what they wanted to be and do, and I was always impressed.
I had a vision of becoming a veterinarian and practice owner, but struggled deciding what type and where until I went into my clinical year, when I chose mixed-animal rural practice.
After graduation, my vision was to have an incredible, growing practice, a happy family, and be active in my community.
Then after 13 years, my vision changed, leading me to sell the practice and seek a new path, which has led me to do things I never thought I would do.
Like many others in this field who have taken many paths, who knows where you might end up from where you are today when you set your eyes on the future and what is possible.
What is a vision statement?
It’s an inspiring and aspirational description of your ideal future.
It sums up your values, goals, and the impact you want to make.
Your vision should reflect your passions, strengths, and aspirations, and be challenging to achieve.
It will serve as the destination for your life and career journey and is the first step to creating the roadmap to get you there.
Without a clear vision, you can experience a reduced sense of purpose and struggle to make informed decisions, set priorities, or communicate your goals effectively.
It will make it harder to have the drive needed to overcome challenges and achieve long-term success.
And nobody wants that.
I definitely don’t want that for you.
Now you know how important visioning is: it is THE process that takes your hopes and dreams and turns them into reality.
Isn’t that exciting?
You get to create the journey of your life and career, and then set that plan into motion.
Now that you’re hooked on the idea of making your own vision statement, and hopefully you see how valuable this will be, we’re going to walk through how to do it.
In our next blog, we’ll walk through the steps of writing a vision statement, and I’ve got a special share – a recorded visioning exercise you can use.
It’s the same exercise that changed my life.
Maybe it can change yours.
