Episode #15- Creating a Compelling Vision for Your Life

Wealth Decisions Podcast Transcript for Episode #15- Creating a Compelling Vision for Your Life

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

I've always loved the quote by Brendan Burchard.

He said, most of us live two lives.

The life we live and the life we are capable of living.

Thomas Edison also said, if we did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.

You know, how is it that some people seem to accomplish so much?

You know, while the vast majority of us never accomplish what we're truly capable of.

You know, if we could fully tap our potential, just imagine what could be different for both me and you.

You know, how would your life change if each and every day you performed up to your full potential and lived this richer life that you hope?

What would be different six months from now, three years from now, or five years down the road, if each day we live with intention and created a vision for our life?

In today's episode, we're going to be talking about creating a compelling vision for your life 10 years out.

You know, one of the reasons that many people don't work from some type of plan is that our belief goes something like this.

Well, I already know what I need to do, so I don't need a plan to get it done.

You know, creating a richer life sounds pretty great, but how do you create that richer, more optimal life?

What does it take?

Well, it takes a vision.

It takes intention.

And it's about taking the time to design a life that you want for you and your family.

So I want you to think about the areas in your life where you've fallen short, maybe accomplished less than you desire or less than you feel capable of.

In each of those areas, if you look critically, the breakdown usually is in lack of execution.

You have an idea of something that you want to execute, but you don't have a plan.

You need to have a vision for your life, a compelling vision that pulls you from the future, rather than having to push yourself each day to do the things you know you need to do.

And that is why creating a compelling vision is so important.

This compelling vision is something that should read like a story and should be so vivid and so real that it creates this pull that ignites you each day to fulfill your goals and dreams.

But don't worry about the results on a daily basis.

They'll come into play once you start taking action on your plan.

Your actions in turn are going to manifest because of your thinking.

And ultimately, it is your thinking that drives your results.

It is your thinking that creates your experiences in life.

So to create a richer life, you have to have a strong emotional stake.

In the outcome you want for your life.

And that's where a compelling vision comes into play.

Most people, we will take comfortable actions over uncomfortable ones.

You know, creating and maintaining a compelling vision of the future will override your desire for short term comfort and align your shorter term goals and plans with a long term vision.

You know, without some type of compelling vision, you'll discover really quickly that there's no reason to go through the pain of change.

And the really cool thing is, is you have the ability to strengthen and develop your brain by thinking about this compelling future for yourself.

And it allows you to emotionally connect with this life that you desire.

And the really powerful thing is, is when you think about this compelling vision, your neurons fire in your brain the same way that neurons fire when you actually act on your vision.

That means that you can literally train your brain to act on your vision just by thinking about it.

It's not enough to have intention of changing.

You have to act on that intention for things to get better.

And not just once, but consistently over time.

Your current actions are creating your future.

And if you want to know what your future holds, you have to look to your actions.

They're the best predictor of your future.

If you want to predict your future health, you look at your current eating and exercise habits.

If you want to predict the health of your marriage, look at your interactions with your spouse.

If you want to predict your career path and future income, you look to the actions you take each day.

Your actions tell the story.

So how do you get yourself to align with this vision and do the things you need to do to live this richer life?

It starts with taking the time to write out a compelling vision for your life that reads like a story.

In the book, The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran, he talks about the common pitfalls of not having a vision of where you want to be and some success tips for creating one that will keep you committed long term and create that pull from the future.

So pitfall number one is you don't take the power of vision seriously.

You know, some people, especially the A type people think that vision is fluff or vision boards are fluff.

You know, those people that think vision is fluff, they tend to leap past the question of purpose and they dive right into action.

And the problem with that is that when the going gets difficult, it's harder to stay committed to the work in the long run because there's no compelling reason or no persuasive why.

And the behaviors associated with this pitfall are not keeping your vision in front of you, not aligning your plans with it and not remembering what it is.

That's so important to you that you're willing to do what it takes every single day.

Pitfall number two is simply the vision isn't meaningful enough for you.

Sometimes we might create a bunch of superficial things when crafting our vision.

We capture what we think we want, what we think we're supposed to want, rather than capturing what is truly meaningful to us.

Creating a vision takes time and you keep working on it until you have something that connects with you emotionally and reads like a story and that ignites you.

You should read your vision and the hairs on your arms should stand up.

It should be so compelling that it creates that pull.

Pitfall number three is maybe that your vision is too small.

A small vision doesn't call on your best efforts.

And pitfall number four is you don't connect your vision to daily actions.

Each day is an opportunity to either make progress on your vision or simply just tread water.

But if you work from a plan that is aligned with your vision, you can be sure that you're acting on the most important things every day.

So once you have this vision created, here's a couple success tips that Brian Moran talked about in his book, The 12 Week Year.

So success tip number one, share your vision with others.

Sharing your vision increases your commitment to it.

And when you tell someone else what you want in your life, you feel more responsibility to act on that vision.

Success tip number two, stay in touch with your vision.

Write this out, put it in your phone, put pictures that go along with the story and review it, maybe on a daily basis or weekly basis and update it over time to make sure it's constantly still meaningful for you.

Success tip number three is to live with intention.

You know, at the end of each day, take a few minutes to reflect on the progress that you made on that vision.

Did you do something to move you forward?

Did you do some activities that weren't related to your vision?

And then maybe write down some actions you'll take tomorrow to make progress on your vision.

So in the description of this podcast, you're going to find a link to a framework for helping you create a compelling vision for your life that will read like a story.

And it starts with the first prompt, and that's to describe your family's closeness, your family's financial security, and your health and well-being.

So an example of that would be something like, my family is financially secure, physically fit, and emotionally close.

We always have 40 to 50,000 in our check-in account for emergencies.

We walk or bike every day as a family after dinner, and we talk about our roses and thorns for the day.

The second prompt is, where do you live?

What kind of house?

As you look out into your backyard, what do you see?

What do you smell?

What do you feel?

The third prompt is, what pictures are hung on the walls with the places you've gone or the experiences you've captured?

An example of that might be something like pictures of my family and all the experiences and places we've traveled lying the walls of our five-bedroom house.

Pictures from our African Safari, the Great Wall of China, Bali, Fiji, Australia, our ski trips to Breckenridge, and our times at Sutherland Falls in New Zealand.

The next prompt in the framework is what has your career awarded you to do outside of your job?

And what impact are you making in the lives of your family, friends, and maybe your clients?

An example for me that you'll find on the worksheet on my website is The Wealth Decisions Podcast is on its 500th episode.

And it has been listened to by over 1 million people and has made an extraordinary difference in the lives of individuals all over the world.

Momentous Wealth Advisors has been featured on CNBC, Forbes, Yahoo Finance and Bloomberg Business.

The book, Momentous Decisions to Live a Richer Life, has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide and has allowed me the opportunity to speak at special large events 10 times per year.

And I feel so fulfilled every day knowing I'm making a difference.

The next prompt is how much time off are you taking and do you own any vacation properties?

And you can find examples of my vision in that category.

The next one to jog your vision is what causes are you making a difference with?

And what are you able to give each year to those causes?

And then you finalize your vision with this prompt.

When you go to bed at night, you sleep soundly knowing blank.

So my final statement in my compelling vision story is when I go to bed at night, I sleep soundly knowing that I help make an extraordinary difference in the lives of my family, my friends, my clients, and people wanting to live a richer life filled with more meaning, accomplishment, difference, and experiences.

So that's it for today's episode, Creating a Compelling Vision For Your Life.

You know, you can't change the past or act in the future.

All we have is this current moment right now.

And right now you can affect what happens to you for the rest of your life.

A rich life is not achieved when the result is reached, but rather long before when you choose to do the things you know you need to do to live the life you want and desire.

Tune in next week and I will be revealing my nine step wealth decisions plan to help you achieve financial freedom and live a richer life.

And if you like this episode, please rate the episode, make some comments, and hit the notification bell to get updated on future wealth decision podcasts.

And please, if you could, share it with a family member or a friend.

My goal with the Wealth Decisions Podcast is to reach over 100,000 people by the end of the year in the Twin Cities and beyond so that people can make better wealth decisions to live a richer life.

If you'd like to schedule a discovery call with me, you can go to my website at momentouswealthadvisors.com and I'll spend some time to get to know you a little bit and find out if I might be able to steer you in the right direction or help you with your financial future.

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify


-Brian D. Muller, AAMS® Founder, Wealth Advisor

Momentous Wealth Advisors in a fee-only fiduciary advisory firm

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