Creating your vision and "Family Creed"

October 8, 2019

Some of you know my background and our unified story with Nick a bit better, some less, some not at all. So I figured I’d start off with sharing with you a bit about our vision, how we came up with it and hopefully inspire you to think through and craft out your bigger picture too.

I have practiced and believed in the power of visualization, goal-setting and everything involving it since my first year of college when my personal development journey started. Everything revolving this topic seemed a bit fluffy to me at first, to be honest, but over the years I have understood the value that having a longer perspective brings. Now helping people develop and reach their vision is a topic near and dear to my heart.

The first self-development book I read was “The Secret.” I was probably 18-19 years old at the time and the idea of “Law of Attraction” seemed very fascinating. Since then I have created vision boards, bucket lists, goal books… you name it.

I was taught that setting specific goals, actually writing them down and having a clear vision will make reaching those things so much more likely. Teachable, as I was, I figured it can’t hurt if I actually try to do this.

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My vision boards made at the beginning of 2016

My previous vision boards were made in 2016 when I was switching jobs and going through a transitional phase in my life. I had dated Nick literally for a week or so and we had exactly three pictures together. I decided to put one of those (on the right board, up and middle) on my new dream board. I recall even telling him- “Hey, I decided- you are a part of my vision.“

I guess we have to be careful with what we wish for!:)

When I was putting together my last vision board I also answered a lot of questions. The goal was not for the board to be a collage of pretty pictures, but a collection of images that really meant something for me. I wrote out answers to questions like: “What would my ideal job and ideal day look like? What places in the world do I want to travel to? What do I believe in? What do I want to give back to the world? What are the characteristics of my perfect spouse? What excites me the most?” and so on.

When you will be putting together yours, I definitely recommend you do the same. Then your vision board will be so much more than shiny, pretty things.

Just having these vision boards though will not be the game-changer. Then you have to go out and put in the work. That’s when the magic happens!

When we met with Nick at the beginning of 2016 we both had our own goals in life. Throughout the 3,5 years we’ve been together we have had to learn how to unify our vision so it’ll serve us both.

Having a clear vision has been something that has helped us through a lot of bumps and curveballs that life has thrown at us during this short amount of time. Starting from the very beginning- living on different continents; having come from various countries, cultures, upbringings; having 10 years of age difference… all of that has made forming a common ground, a mutual vision sometimes pretty tough.
Going through immigration problems, health issues, sicknesses, losses, handling working in different time-zones have definitely added to the list of reasons why co-existing or furthermore building a life together could be hard.

The main thing, though, that has helped us to keep on going and staying as persistent as humanly possible in the midst of all of it, has been our vision.

We still have our separate dreams and those are not going anywhere, but for the first time in our lives we came up with our mutual vision board.

So here, my friends, is how it all went down:

1. First, we did an exercise where we both went through a long list of values and separately chose 10 we felt are the most important. Then we discussed those and narrowed them down. Those became the core values of what we stand for.

2. Second, we talked about our vision and mission in the world and tried to put those into words.
From this value- discussion our own “Connor Family Creed” was born.
This is the base for our relationship. This is going to help us make decisions when we can’t agree on them ourselves.

3. After we had formed The Creed we started looking for pictures to make our words visual. I had a goal of adding 5 pictures every day for about 20 days and then we felt everything we saw in our vision was in that document.

4. I printed them out, cut and glued for multiple days.

5. We also decided to add our wedding vows to always remember what we promised each other.

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Our wedding vows

6. Lastly, I added a reminder for little things we wouldn’t forget to be grateful for.

7. We put it all together and framed it. Voila!

We divided it into different sections:

• Dream traveling destinations
• Professional aspirations
• Cool experiences
• Inspirational quotes
• Family inspirations

Some of the things on this vision board scare the heck out of me and I know will challenge us and definitely require a lot of determination, effort, and commitment. Our vision board is in my office, in front of my eyes every single day, reminding me why we do what we do.

We have also tried to form a habit of reading the Creed out loud together once every month or so and that is so refreshing every time. I dream that one day when our kids will be older and someone asks about their upbringing, reading The Creed will be something they will always remember and value.

I know I have given you a lot of potential ideas and further possible exercises involving this vision-casting process. What’s important is that this doesn’t have to be an overnight task nor does it have to look anything like ours. It should be 100% YOURS.

Often times vision seems a soft topic, but truth be told- I don’t know one person, who has actually taken the steps, thought through their goals, written them out, put them in pictures and then regretted doing it. That just doesn’t happen!

Our everyday motivation is oftentimes very directly tied to the clarity of our vision, and hey- if something helps me to be more focused daily, I am all for it.

I will leave you with this…

I know this is all a bit of a dreamy topic, but what is the likelihood of us getting to a place where we want to be if we have no sight of that? I’d say the chances of that are smaller than when we actually knew where we are even headed to. Would you agree?

So, go ahead, dream a bit. I know you are busy and have a long list of to-do items. We all do. Just choose to spend time on this. I am giving you emotional permission for that.

Take the steps and let me know in the end how your vision board looks like. When it’s ready, send it to me, post it on your Instagram and add #mrsconnorblog #visionboardexercise #dreamitachieveit or share it in your story and tag me too. I’d be glad to see your dreams.

Alrighty, pals- time to dream!

Love,

Liisa.