The following article was in our local paper and I thought it might help all of us plan for the future.  There’s a passage from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland that reads:  “Alice came to a fork in the road.  ‘Which road do I take?’ she asked.  ‘Where do you want to go? – responded the Cheshire Cat.  ‘I don’t know,’ Alice answered.  ‘Then,’ said the Cat, ‘It doesn’t matter.'”  

A couple of weeks ago, I was challenged by a friend to write a personal vision statement.  He had recently completed the exercise and spoke so sincerely of the clarity and renewal he experienced through doing so that my curiosity was  most certainly piqued.

A few days after this conversation, I sat staring at a blank computer screen ready to meet his challenge, but nothing came.  Like Alice, it seemed I was not sure which road I wanted to take.  And just like the Cheshire Cat, I knew it would not matter unless I was willing to invest some serious thought.  

My friend had cautioned me that the exercise should be completely inner-focused.  Forget about what you think you should be.  Cast aside what you think others in your life expect of  you.  That will naturally fit together later, he advised.  Make this about you – who you are and who you want to be.  

He also shared  his format with me.  His personal vision statement was crafted as if he awakened one day, five years from now, and his life appeared, in every way, perfect.  And it was written in the present tense.  There were no such things as I will, or I hope to be, or it’s my expectation to.  That futuristic language was replaced with bold proclamations that started with stuff like I am, I do and I enjoy.  

As I read his words, it was so very easy to see him accomplishing exactly what he had put on paper.  

I deviated a bit from his plan by first sitting down and describing my current life and, for the most part, was really happy with what my words described. Then I cleared my mind, closed my eyes and looked five years down the road with a willingness to describe something entirely different if that is where my heart led me.  

Instead, I found some very consistent themes, but with a few major improvements that were completely about me.  The person I described took more time to  nourish the relationships that matter most deeply to me.  

It’s easy to feel great love and loyalty for the people who really matter in one’s life, but I found I don’t always place adequate effort in letting them know the depth of my caring.  My Penny-In-Progress makes more time to enjoy others and invest in their well-being.  

I also described a person who values balance and places a greater premium on personal enrichment.  For far too long, I have said things like, “someday I will…” or “When I retire, I hope to….”  What if those days never come?  Life is uncertain.  How sad would it be to run out of time for one’s dreams?  It’s not that we don’t have time for things.  Rather we do not always choose to make time for what we value.  

Is my personal vision statement finished?  Hardly!  But I am much closer to knowing what road I want to take because someone urged me to commit my priorities to paper.  

And it occurs to me that this could work in business, too.  We’ve all heard the saying about getting so busy working IN our business that we forget to work ON our business.  

Taking the time to look five years down the road to define how our business should look must surely crystallize some of the decision-making that faces us today.  

Maybe the vision for the future places the company on track to pursue an entirely new line of business.  Maybe the vision calls for a paring down to get more customer-centric.  Maybe the business goes away and its owner pursues a deeper personal calling.

The page is blank.  Not blank  in the sense of nothing there, but rather blank in the way that anything is possible.  

How exciting is that?

kommonsentsjane