My Reality Check Bounced! - Jason Ryan Dorsey [10]
Your Future Picture is a combination of four snapshots that represent one primary piece of your quest for meaning.
Your Career Snapshot
Your career snapshot includes all aspects of your professional career from the education you need, the position you aspire to hold, the people you want on your team, the financial security you desire, the major achievements you want to accomplish, and what you want your career to signify. By this point in your life, you probably have had a few jobs and tried on a few different career paths. Reflecting on these past experiences may be particularly helpful in designing an inspiring career snapshot.
Your Family Snapshot
A family snapshot includes all aspects of family, from the one that raised you to the one you want to raise. Make sure to fill in every detail: Would you like to get married? Have kids? Where will you take family vacations? How will you raise your kids? Where will your family live? Who will attend family reunions? As a twentysomething, you’ve had your share of family ups and downs. These should give you extra insight into what you want in the people you plan to share your life with.
Your Personal Snapshot
Your mental and physical well being is your personal snapshot. Pay special attention to how you want your body to look and feel. Then focus on how you will spend your free time, how you will challenge yourself to keep growing, what kind of friends you will have, and all the hobbies and interests that will add spice to your life. If you can’t think of any engaging hobbies or personal interests, concentrate instead on the kind of person you intend to be and what you want to pursue outside of work and family.
Your Purpose Snapshot
The purpose snapshot is all about the bigger, deeper, more intimate goals of your life. For you this might be a religious calling, a spiritual journey, or another path to meaning that makes your heart feel peace and contentment. Your purpose snapshot should be an intangible thread that runs through all your other snapshots. Understanding, defining, and living this purpose is a lifelong quest, and it benefits you to understand and undertake it as early in life as possible.
After writing and refining each of these four snapshots individually, imagine each one as a piece of a larger puzzle. Separately they don’t hold all the fulfillment, answers, or meaning you desire; but when brought together, they are what your life would be like if you lived it to its fullest.
With a detailed, well-thought-out picture of your future, you have taken one of the biggest insurance policies you can to keep from ever feeling stuck, lost, helpless, or trapped. Your Future Picture can and will change as you gain the perspective that comes with age, but just knowing that you are heading somewhere valuable can be a freeing revelation. Your Future Picture also allows you to see how the present connects with the future so you can make the most of today and tomorrow.
Take a few moments to summarize each of your four snapshots in one or two sentences, so you have them for easy reference. For example, for your career snapshot, you might write down something like this: “Owning my own interior design company.” For your purpose snapshot you might write: “Living each day with meaning while helping others do the same.”
Your career snapshot:
Your family snapshot:
Your personal snapshot:
Your purpose snapshot:
If you are really ready to see these four snapshots come to life, then write them on the mirror in your bathroom, in the cover of the journal or notepad you keep by your bed, and on a piece of paper you carry in your purse or wallet. Whenever you are feeling challenged, discouraged, or frustrated, read these sentences until the images come to life in your imagination. Then you will put yourself in the right frame of mind to tackle whatever has distressed you.
FYI: It’s okay if you don’t have a clear vision for