Visualize Your Life

"If You Could Do Anything, Be Anything, How Would you Live Your Life?"

When you look back on your life, how will you want it to have played out? What do you want others to say about you? What are your life goals?

In order to reach our life goals, we must first know what we want the finish line to look like. If you find it difficult to answer the questions above, then you may need help visualizing your life.

Write down a list of every career or achievement you’ve desired over your lifetime. For example, I have wanted or still want to be a teacher, photographer, painter, architect, pianist, organist, and harpist. I wanted to create retreats to help others using artistic therapies. I studied, wrote, and presented my senior project about these expressive therapies.

I find that the key number of items you should have on your list is seven. If you're struggling to come up with seven, here is another example to help: My daughter tried this exercise and she found seven things she’s wanted to do as well. These include being a writer, teacher, actress, surgeon, small business owner, greenhouse owner, and now a farmer.

Look at your list and find one thing they all have in common. It might seem impossible at first, but I’m sure it’s there. When I examined my list I found two things they had in common, either they were to help others or to express my artistic/creative side. Therefore they all had this in common: I want to help others creatively. My daughters list was a little less obvious. They didn’t seem to connect quiet as much, but if you look carefully, you’ll find a desire for independence, either financial or personal independence, in each career choice.

Have you found the one something everything on your list has in common? I call this your Life Goal or Purpose. This is what you desire most or want to accomplish during your lifetime.

Another exercise that can help you picture how you want your life to be, is to create a Dream Board (see example above). This can be done with digital images in a Word document or on paper with magazine cut-outs. Find images that represent what you want in your life and what's important to you. Create a collage with these images and have fun with it. It's time to dream BIG! and remember, "if you could do anything, be anything, how would you live your life?"

This Dream Board is now a visual representation of your life. Refer to it often, share it with family and friends, and add to it whenever you find new desires in life. Let it become motivation to move forward and make achievements. It should help you to set life goals and reach those goals.

It's time to find your compelling life purpose, reach for your finish line, and do something you love every day.

Check out the sequel to this topic: Setting Attainable Goals - the beginning step to reaching your dreams.

Co-Written by Teresa Hancock and Angela Hancock