Personal Vision Statement: Why And How To Create One

One of the philosophies I developed for myself is this ‘life is business and to make the most of life, you need to give it a business approach’. Based on that philosophy, I often apply business principles and practices to my life to help keep me productive and achieve the results I desire.

One of the practices I find most useful is the practice of creating a vision statement for myself. Companies and organizations create vision statements as a way to keep themselves in line with their vision and to keep themselves motivated. You probably have seen companies talk about their vision statements or you may have read on their websites and wondered to yourself, ‘o wow, that is so cool’.

Do you know that just like companies and organizations have vision statements for themselves, you too can have a vision statement created for yourself?

Yes, individuals have personal vision statements to help guide them in the things they do, how they do them, and the way and manner they go about them. This allows them to clarify their goals and stay focused on achieving them.

In this post, I will help you understand more about your vision statement and why you need one for yourself.

What Is a Personal Vision Statement?

A vision statement is an inspirational message that summarizes an entity’s present and future objectives or goals. A personal vision statement, therefore, is an inspirational message that seeks to remind you of your present and future objectives.

As I pointed out, the practice of having a personal vision statement is an idea that is borrowed from the business world.

Why You Need A Personal Vision Statement

There are so many reasons why you need a personal vision statement. Just like I pointed out in the introduction, companies and organizations have vision statements to help keep them reminded of their goals and objectives. However, vision statements do much more than remind them of their goals and objectives, they also help tell others about who they are and seek to convince them of their quality.

This is one of the reasons why a personal vision statement is important to you as an individual as it will help convince others about the quality of the person you are. Other reasons why you need a personal vision statement are as follows:

1.  A personal vision statement helps provide you with a sense of direction and purpose. 

Having a sense of direction and purpose is important as an individual in all you do. When you feel you are not heading anywhere in particular, you may never feel happy or satisfied with yourself. A personal vision statement helps provide you with the needed sense of direction or purpose.

2.  A personal vision statement helps you stay on track with your purpose and vision at all times.

Working on your purpose or vision could be challenging as there will be distractions and things to discourage you along the way. Some days, you may find yourself drifting from your vision or purpose and on such days, a well-written personal vision statement can do the magic for you. It can help you bring yourself back on track with your purpose and vision.

3.  A personal vision statement helps keep you going 

As an individual, there are days you may not feel motivated or interested in the work you do. Days you may even think of quitting. Having a personal vision statement can help motivate you on those days you don’t feel motivated.

In 2021, I organized a training program for undergraduates. I did all the necessary things to ensure the training kicked off and ran successfully, however, there were challenges. I did not get the number of participants planned for and the participants who registered were not all fully committed to the training. If you are into consultancy and training as I am, you will understand how this feels and on various occasions, I felt like quitting.

One of the ways I helped myself come out of the rut and not quit was my vision statement. During those days, I will go into my closet and take out my vision statement, read them again to myself and get motivated again to keep going.

How To Create Your Personal Vision Statement

1. Define Or Clarify Who You Are

An effective personal vision statement takes into account who you are as a person. You are creating the vision statement for yourself so it must be one that represents your true self. To define and clarify who you are, you will have to define the following:

• Your strengths
• Your values

2. Define Or Clarify What You Do And How You Do It

In creating your vision statement, you will need to define what you do and how you do it. This is important as it will help tell anyone who stumbles upon your vision statement what exactly you do and how you do it. That way, it will help you close more clients if you are into a service-based business.

3. Define Or Clarify Your Short And Long-Term Goals

As pointed out in the definition of a personal vision statement, a personal vision statement helps remind you of your present and future goals. In creating your vision statement, you want to be able to tell yourself in clear terms what your short and long-term goals are. When you have done this, you may wish to weave these into your vision statement while crafting it.

4. Write Your Personal Vision Statement 

When you are done with the necessary definitions and clarifications you need to do, there is nothing more left to be done than to set down to write your vision statement. In writing your vision statement you will have to consider the results of your clarifications and reflections. What do you consider striking in the course of your reflections and what do you consider most inspiring? These are the things you want to build your statements on.

There is no rule as to how a personal vision statement should be written or how long it should but you must make it detailed and brief. The length could range from 30—70 words, depending on you. If you would love to have a longer vision statement, you may consider creating two versions – one short and the other long. Below is a simple guide you can adapt:

• The first sentence of your vision statement should answer the question of ‘WHAT?’ This is necessary as that would be the first thing someone would want to know about you – what you do.
• The second sentence should answer the question ‘WHO?’ This is where you tell who your target audience is. If there is no target audience, you can go future to talk about who you are.
• The third should answer the question ‘HOW?’ This is important, especially if you provide services to people.

Other Things To Note

• It is called a Personal Vision Statement for a reason, make it personal. The wording and message of your vision statement should speak to you first of all.
• Don’t aim for perfection, it doesn’t exist. One of the challenges I have with some of my clients when it comes to helping them craft a vision statement for themselves is that they always seem to be obsessed with having that one perfect statement that does wonders. And from my years of experience working in the industry, there is no perfect vision statement. What we have is simply one that serves the purpose the most.
• You can review and rewrite your vision statement. It is not set in stone and so can change at any time in your career journey. So ensure you make out time to review your vision statement. I always advise an annual review. Some persons do biennially. You can choose your period of review.

Examples of Personal Vision Statements 

To be a teacher. And to be known for inspiring my students to be more than they thought they could be.

Oprah Winfrey, Founder of The Oprah Winfrey Network.

To serve as a leader, live a balanced life, and apply ethical principles to make a significant difference.

Denise Morrison, American Business Executive.

To have fun in my journey through life and learn from my mistakes.

Richard Branson, Founder of The Virgin Group.

Closing Thoughts

A personal vision statement is more than just a written statement. It serves both internal and external purposes. If you don’t have one yet, you may not know what you are missing out on. I have just shown you how you can create a personal vision statement that works for you. As I pointed out, there is no rule on how your vision statement is to look or the length. You can play around with the guide in this post or you can choose to do away with it entirely. There are no rules.