Too often, we sell ourselves short because we do not have a vision for what we want our lives to become. We settle for what we have for various reasons, not the least of which is our self-doubt. We may also doubt God or the universe is good enough to give us a good life. If you fail to set a vision, you will probably not attain it. Can you imagine a better life? Or, are you stuck because you don’t believe it is possible to have it?

Vision can be seen as the overall picture of what you want your life to become. Goals are a way to structure that vision into tasks. If you meet the goals underneath the overarching vision, you will be steps closer to realizing the vision. You do not have to attain the whole vision all at once, or even in the next few weeks and months. Vision is there to lead you into the future, including the years and decades ahead. You can even make a whole life plan. What do you want to accomplish with your whole life? If you start working toward that today, life will be more satisfying immediately.

It is a good idea when setting goals to set ones you can actually accomplish. A lot of people (especially at New Year’s) set goals they are never going to reasonably accomplish. For example, many of us say we are going to exercise every day. For most of us, that is not possible. Things come up and some days you just don’t feel like working out. You set yourself up for failure if you demand to do it every day. If you say you are going to work out three times a week, that is more realistic, and it is okay to exceed your goal.

Habits are made by just doing little bits repeatedly. If you wanted to start reading more, you could just start reading for 5 minutes every day. Once you experience the benefit of the activity, you will naturally do it more. You will not have to force yourself to do it. You will choose to do it.

Life is about sketching in what you want to see. It is a good idea to start with sketching out the entire composition and then work on filling in the details. You have to take a step back every once in a while to see what the piece is becoming. It is that way with our lives. First set vision, then goals, then tasks. It is okay to have success!