Welcome to Tony Richards Messages

13 Writing A VisionStatement Pt2

Welcome to this week’s message on leadership, self-confidence, and how to feel good about yourself everyday as you interact with people, in safety and comfort, at home and work.

Last week’s message was about Critical Step 2. Celebrate Your Achievements.
It was a wonderful message that provided us with an opportunity to practice a skill that we may not have used since childhood. It is the second of the Five Critical Steps that combine together to ensure your security within the Cycle of Confidence and Leadership.
If you wish to be reminded of that message, it is also available back on the message page.

This week’s message is about Critical Step 3. Writing a Vision Statement.
Your Vision Statement will be reflective of who you are and where you’re going. It is imperative in providing you certainty and direction in decision-making, and will also help you understand why you’re making decisions, and where they’re taking you. This is the Critical Step that links the first three Steps together, to ensure you never loose sight of your real value as an individual, and also displays that value to everyone else you come into contact with.

In a previous message on Writing a Vision Statement I explained WHY you should write one. It had to do with making the intangible thoughts about your value and direction into a tangible display that you, and others, could recognise.

This will assist to give clarity to your decisions, and make your interactions with each other more positive. It is also used to remind you, every day, of your real value as an individual. (There can be moments of stress, for all of us, in our everyday lives where we easily forget our real value)

Today’s message will begin the explanation of HOW to write such an important Statement.
The first thing needed is some privacy for yourself as you prepare to be introspective and think about who you are, the importance of you to those who love you, those who work with you, and those you interact with during your daily life.

Self-examination is never easy, but it is necessary if you are to write a Vision Statement that is reflective of whom you really are. And how you begin to find that out is by listing all of the Principles that you consider are relevant to you.

For example, apart from the Principles of confidence (trust, respect and reliance), there are many others that may be of importance to you. Such as Honesty, Tolerance, Consideration, Love, Fairness, Inspire and Thoughtful. You may not need help with Principles, although I am prepared to help by emailing you a page of them, that I have put together, if you email me and request it. No charge of course!

There are four main rules I like to use when assisting someone to write a Vision Statement. And when I write about ‘assist’ you must acknowledge that no one else can write your Statement for you. As a unique individual only you know what is important or relevant as to how you expect the world to treat you and how you want to interact with all those you meet.

Rule1 is the KIS rule. Keep It Simple. Introspection is tough enough without making it harder on yourself. Look at some Statements provided by other people as an example. Go to the tab above that says ‘Free Book Download’, then go to chapter 8, page 7, and you will see Vision Statements from passed clients who were kind enough to let me publish theirs in my book. My own Statement is on page 13 of that chapter.

You will see how simple many of those Statements are. My own Statement is much longer than many because I recognise that I need to overcome more faults than most other people. That’s another story for another time. Keeping it simple also makes it easier to commit to. I recommend no more than four Principles in your first Vision Statement.

Rule2 is to maintain the focus of your Statement on yourself. As an example, if one of your Principles was the word TRUST, you would resist framing it to say, “I will be more trusting of others”. Your Statement must not be used by others to walk all over you. Quite the opposite! Your Statement is going to be used by you to be much more certain and decisive in dealing with others. It may instead say something like; “I will examine all matters of trust very carefully”.

Rule3 is to use Principles from your earliest memories. This is difficult to explain outside a classroom setting because it needs to be shown how you were born with an instinctive acceptance of all positive Principles, and the time it takes to teach that can run into hours. You’ll have to trust me on this one and think back to what was most important to you when you were young. That will bring the Principles to the surface, which are waiting to remind you of their relevance to your life.

Rule4 is to confront any issues in your life that you are currently dealing with. Provided you have taken some hours considering the first draft of your Vision Statement, (sometimes it takes days – persevere, it will be worth it) you will have chosen (or maybe they chose you) Principles that will assist you to deal with any current crisis or stress. Don’t be afraid to contact me for personal and confidential assistance.

Your initial Statement will probably require editing and changes as your life changes. Very few people can imagine that ten years ago they would be where they are now; with the people they’re with, doing the work they’re doing. Think about where you were and what you were doing ten years ago. Life is so fluid that our Statement will need to change to keep up with it.

Business Vision Statements require a more complex process, which involves all employees, from those doing the physical work to Management, if it is be effective. Contact me for more information on that, or wait for the item of 'Special Interest' covering that subject in the future.

Please take the opportunity this week to think about your Vision Statement and how it must become an imperative part of reminding yourself of your value as its words provide direction for personal or business decisions and interactions with others. We would all love to hear about any Statement, historical quotation, or positive affirmations you have used to maintain certainty, or direction, in guiding your everyday actions.

Your stories – even short comments – are of great value to inspire others, and I would like to take the opportunity to include your stories, or comments, in upcoming episodes of ‘Special Interest Items’. They will be included as they fit into the theme of the message for that week.

Do you know anyone you can help with leadership issues, or just feeling good about themselves? Forward this message to friends and work colleagues; print it out and place it on notice boards, and give copies to those without computer access. Printing out, and compiling each weekly message in a folder, is a good way to build a total knowledge of self-confidence and leadership. It will provide certainty in dealing with every aspect of your life.

Next week’s message will be about Critical Step 4 Setting Goals. You will feel the benefits of taking small but positive steps that reinforce your focus on how important YOU are. You will also come to understand why setting goals is the 4th Critical Step, not the 1st, 2nd or 3rd. It will be followed in coming weeks by Critical Step 5 and a message of Special Interest.

Until then, please continue to see yourself as a unique and remarkable person, who deserves to feel good about yourself every day.

Tony Richards.

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