Find Your Direction With A Personal Vision Statement

<< Back to all Blogs

Being in your twenties and thirties as a quarterlifer is an exciting time full of transitions, firsts, and, of course, plenty of questions and unknowns. For many millennials, the questions and unknowns overtake and drown out the excitement, leading to feelings of being lost and having no direction.

A great first step toward finding your way is to create a personal vision statement. From that basic, but critical first step, you can build the life YOU want. Moving forward without one is a lot like trying to get somewhere you have never been without Google Maps or WAZE. Moving forward WITH one can improve happiness for millennials.

A vision statement should capture your values, goals and priorities for your life.

Refer back to it, edit it as needed over time, and rely on it to stay focused on what really matters to you. Use this as a tool to guide your choices about romance, friendship, family, and career.

How do you begin?

You must think about the life that YOU want, NOT the life that others expect you to have.

In order for this vision statement to be most useful to you, you will need to distinguish the expectations you have for yourself from those imposed by cultural norms, parents, and peers. Take note that such external expectations often disguise themselves as your own, but can be identified by the word “should” (e.g., “I should do X” or “I shouldn’t be so Y”). Put those “shoulds” in a box with all of the other external expectations—you won’t need them for your personal statement (and perhaps you’ll find you won’t have any use for them again).

Do unpack your introspection and self-reflection skills because you’ll definitely need those. I have to stress that a meaningful and helpful personal statement takes time and focus.

Here are some tips for writing your personal vision statement:

Try to limit it to one page.
Keep an open mind.
Don’t be quick to dismiss ideas that seem fanciful, unrealistic, or even difficult to think about.
Be honest with yourself.
Get in touch with who you really are. Think about your core values, interests, skills, and life goals, using this exercise as a guide.
Don’t judge yourself.
We all have things that are tough to admit to ourselves. Yet it is those things that make us who we are and infinitely more interesting.
Allow yourself to dream BIG.
Have fun with it!
Like your life, it’s a work in progress.