What is your personal vision statement for 2020/2021 and how did you arrive there?

christinee·Dec 22, 2020·8 replies

I've spent a few weeks trying to gain clarity for the year ahead and the final step is to create a personal vision statement for 2021. I've always had trouble with aspirational thinking because my default is to get super granular and think about achievements instead. For obvious reasons, a lot of what I set out to achieve in 2020 is currently sitting in a toasty dumpster fire. While I have since come to terms with this, I also know that 2021 isn't going to be much easier. Rather than narrowing in on achievements I want to practice aspirational thinking. This is the first time I've done this so I would love to hear what others have tried/set for themselves. Mine is still a little WIP but here it goes: "Become indispensable in my career. I spend the majority of my time surrounded by people who understand and value me both for my contributions and for who I am as an individual. These are some of the exercises I did over the past few weeks to arrive at my personal vision statement:1. Values by James Clear 2. Systems thinking by Julian Shapiro 3. Goal Setting by Growclass 4. Actionable Goal planning by Marie Poulin - Notion Queen (downloadable templates at gumroad.com/mariepoulin#xlbm 5. Lastly, I googled personal vision statements to figure out how to put all of this together. This was near the top of my search and was actually pretty helpful! https://scottjeffrey.com/personal-vision-statement/

teresaman·Dec 22, 2020

I'm curious what @HannahBaldovino thinks as she had shared this thread not too long ago: https://elpha.com/posts/ksuc28e2/what-s-your-2020-mantra-or-motto !

HannahBaldovino·Dec 23, 2020·1 reply

Hi Christine! I do love this time of year. The prompt to evaluate the last year and think about about the next. Wish I did this more often throughout the year!For me 2020 has just been about pure survival. The WFH transition and having my toddler out of day care for a few of those months. My vision was more just get through the day and try to be somewhat of a pleasant person :) These last few months I've had to really evaluate what I want in the next year. I think my biggest vision statement for 2021 will be this: "Know what you want and act accordingly" That means I have to sacrifice a lot of things in the short game to win the long time. It also means working on the grind and hustle in those moments that I don't necessarily feel inspired or motivated. I think it's a great clause to put in there that yours is still a WIP. Because.. at the end of the day, we're all a WIP which to me means that we still care and we're still moving forward. Not a bad place to be!

christinee·Jan 04, 2021

Hey Hannah, My coworker has two little ones and it brought so much light to our weekly meetings to see them interacting with the new normal while their parents do their best to WFH. Without this I think we all would have lost sight of what's important. So thank you for being a parent in 2020! The world knows it wasn't easy. Your vision statement is awesome. My partner and I just did our 2021 budgeting for having a family and I feel you on the short term sacrifice to win the long game. All the best in 2021!

abbyrose·Dec 23, 2020·1 reply

Hi Christine! My vision statement for the year is "Do the things that you want to do, not the things you feel you should do." I've always been a "yes" person and have historically found myself committing to a lot of things that I don't actually want to do, just because I feel like "somebody like me" should do them. Yuck. As hard as this year has been, it's really helped me with self-reflection and being able to say no to things that don't fit with the version of myself that I want to be right now. My goal for 2021 is to prioritize the things I actually want in life, not the things that society tells me I "should" want.I came to this goal by doing a great exercise at an online event a friend of mine hosted. We listed four goals in each of four categories: Career-Job, Career-Other, Personal-Mental and Personal-Emotional. I'm also an "achievements" person, so listing out the smaller goals I hoped to accomplish was helpful in arriving at the overarching "big" one that ties them all together.

christinee·Jan 04, 2021

Hey Abbyrose, You're so right on that, "should" is my least favourite word in the english language. I get really defensive when someone "shoulds" me but at the same time I can be the first person to do it to myself. I'm helping a friend put their goals together this month and I think your exercise will help kick things off for us--thank you!Btw, each time I hear that 2020 was a good year for self-reflection I get really hopeful about the state of the things, so thank you for sharing!All the best in 2021!

NatalieH·Dec 23, 2020·1 reply

I love this! These are all great and super inspiring. Mine is “Be a leader who inspires, be the woman you imagine in the future, and be someone who seeks perspective, overcomes, and follows through.”Just recently, I was promoted to a Creative Director role. One of my personal issues is that I always have a ton of ideas but I never follow through on them. I sometimes get stuck in my own head or in my own way. I do a guided meditation a few times a year that guides you through the process of envisioning and meeting yourself in the future. One of my constant mottos is “What actions can I take today that will move me closer to becoming her?” Basically, what can I do now to work towards being the woman I dream/hope to one day be?

christinee·Jan 04, 2021·1 reply

Hi Natalie, Congrats on the promotion! I face the same personal challenges and picked up meditation to help with this too (Waking up by Sam Harris). Do you have a process in place to check-in on your wins (small and big)? I have observed that the most ambitious people tend to finish a project and jump onto the next without fully realizing what feat was just accomplished. I can also relate to your strong connection to your future self and loved the simple "Bento" framework for thinking about the commitments to our "future self" and "future us".https://bentoism.substack.com/Best of luck in 2021!

NatalieH·Jan 11, 2021

Thank you! Meditation is crucial.I do check-ins anytime I cross something off of my goals list. I learned the hard way and was definitely one of those caught up in moving directly onto the next thing and not celebrating moments.In fact, once I landed my new role I was dumbfounded at what to do. I spent literally my entire career working toward being a design leader. Then, I was. It was such an unusual feeling. Now, I'm just busy being in the moment and enjoying it – before planning any new role-related goals.I hadn't heard of Bentoism and am definitely checking it out! Thanks for sharing that.Best of luck to you, too.