Developing your personal vision and values

I was very fortunate to spend a good chunk of my training and coaching career developing young leaders. With the help of two amazing external trainers we developed an 'Inspirational Leadership Programme'. 

Creating a personal leadership vision

On day 3 of the programme we helped leaders to develop their personal visions and it was such an inspiring part of the programme, for both participants and trainers. My personal vision, which I had to showcase/role model for the participants, started off something along the lines of 'Releasing the Potential of People'. Then (as I found that a bit boring) it evolved to 'Releasing the Magic in People' and when I decided, feeling a bit embarrassed, to declare to the 19 people in the training room, that my vision was to 'Releasing the Magic in 100,000 People'. This by default meant  that to get to 100,000 people I would have to motivate an army of people to be able to achieve my vision. Shortly after I launched my ambitious vision, I was asked by Nestlé Head Office to provide the coaching content for a programme to be rolled out across the whole of Nestlé global world. The the coaching programme my team and I had developed for Nestlé Purina was to be used across the whole Nestlé world. WOW ..... I guess in some little way I did contribute to releasing the magic in over 300,000 people. After I retired in 2010 I set up my business 'Release the Magic' and ran it very successfully for 10 years, reinforcing the benefit of having a vision.

How to create your vision

I will always remember one of the trainers saying that having a vision allowed you 'to see the image of the cathedral as you mixed the cement'. You always keep in your mind what it is that you are setting out to achieve.

For guidance on how to create a personal vision I found the following web site.

https://liveboldandbloom.com/03/self-improvement/personal-vision-statements

1. List your personal strengths.
2. List your personal weaknesses.
3. Write down your core values.
4. Think about how your values should guide interactions with family, at work, and within your community.
5. Consider the best uses for your life energy based on your inner compass and values.
6. Identify some specific goals that you want to pursue.
7. Imagine the legacy of your purpose, goals, and actions.
8. Examine your notes to see what jumps out as most important.
9. Compose a paragraph that summarizes your priorities in the form of a vision statement

How great leaders inspire action

Before embarking on developing your personal vision, please watch this video from Simon Sinek, viewed by nearly 17 million people! I think he has captured the very essence of how to create a personal vision. 

I will go into more detail in our future coaching sessions as I help you to create your first life vision. 

The following is how I applied the golden circle to my business. How I used WHY and HOW to create a business that I loved running.