8 Steps For Finding (& Nailing) Your Vision

I’ll never forget that moment…

I was 20 years old…

I had just graduated from business school.

And I felt like a complete loser.

All my peers were pursuing prestigious careers in finance, law, consulting, and investment banking.

But I wasn’t interested in any of those paths.

I got a job at Kraft Foods selling their products to 26 stores in Toronto.

It sucked.

I remember thinking to myself -

“Is this all there is?"

"Is this crappy job going to be what I do for the rest of my life?”

There’s a famous Bible verse that says “Where there is no vision, the people perish…”

That was my life.

Although I had tons of potential and quite a few skills, I had zero vision.

And not only was it keeping me from accomplishing anything meaningful…

It was also making me miserable.

Fortunately that moment of despair led to the creation of something that would change my life forever -

My Vision Board System

With this system I was able to get clear on my vision and was able to make a plan to make that vision a reality.

The cool thing is, the me today is living the life I "envisioned" all those years ago.

Now, at the end of every year, I take a week to "re-do" my vision board.

It serves as a 'North Star' for me during the upcoming year, helping me know what I should and shouldn't be giving time and energy to.

Vision is essential for both personal and professional success.

Since we're 3 weeks into the New Year (when most people start to drop all their New Year's Resolutions), I’m going to share my Vision Board System with you. 

And at the end, I’ll give you the template for my system so you can leverage it to create your Vision Board.

Before we dive in...

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Now, let’s get back to my Vision Board System 🪂

My Vision Board System

My system is broken up into 8 parts. 

However, don’t let the number intimidate you.

The parts are connected in a way to ultimately give you maximum clarity.

So you know exactly what you’re working towards, and have the steps to reach it.

Part 1: Your Values 

One of the biggest mistakes I see founders make is creating a vision (or setting goals for that matter) that is completely contrary to their values.

If you want to have any true or lasting success, your vision and goals MUST be in alignment with your core values.

This is important for two reasons:

• Avoiding burnout. The fastest way to run yourself into the ground is to force yourself to do something you hate. And while that’s fine in short sprints, over the long term it will lead to burnout, or even worse…building a life that you hate.

• Staying motivated. Being a founder is awesome, but let’s be real…not every day is a walk in the park. One of the best ways to stay motivated and show up when you're in a rough patch is by setting goals that align with your values.

Here’s what my values look like:

Part 2: Your Niche

In the same way that you need to find a niche for your brand and business, I also think it’s important for us to have our own personal “niche.”

Our personal niche is made up of 3 parts:

• Vision - This is essentially our audacious goal. “Shoot for the moon, so we land amongst the stars”- type stuff.

• Mission - This is the impact we want to have on the world.

• Niche - This is what we want to be “known for.” Essentially this is how we would want other people to describe us.

Here’s what my niche looks like:

Part 3: Marketing System

The marketing system is essentially a high-level overview of the practical assets and skills that I have that will help me accomplish my goals.

It’s a way of “taking stock” of my own personal resources that I can leverage when I start building out my action plans.

It also takes what I wrote out in my values and niche section and makes them a bit more tangible/practical.

Here are the parts of my Marketing System:

• Target - These are the people I want to impact and the ways I want to help them.

• Uniqueness - These are my personal strengths that give me a natural advantage or help me stand out in the crowd.

• Process - These are the channels I can use to reach my ideal audience.

• Guarantee - This is how I can “guarantee” people pay attention to what I’m doing.

Here’s what my Marketing System looks like:

Part 4: 10-Year Goals

Now we get to the fun part…

Creating the life of our dreams.

In this portion of the process, we’re going to start listing out our long-term goals.

Start off by imagining what you want your life to look like in 10 years.

These should be your biggest and most intimidating dreams. 

But don’t worry, we have PLENTY of time to make sure they become a reality.

Here’s what my 10-Year Goals look like:

Part 5: 3-Year Goals 

Now that you have your 10-year goals worked out, it’s time to start making those more achievable.

I know some people might make 5-year goals, but I prefer to focus on 3 years out. 

It's still a ways away, but is "close enough" to serve as a good point to ensure I’m on track to hit my 10-year goals.

I calculate my 3-year goals as the “light versions” of my 10-year goals. 

Here’s what my 3-Year goals look like:

Part 6: 1-Year Plan

Now that we know what we want to achieve in the future, it’s time to start planning the practical steps for working toward said goals.

There’s a quote that goes something like this -

“People overestimate what they can accomplish in a week but underestimate what they can accomplish in a year.”

That’s the mindset I try and have when planning out this step.

I think to myself - “if I had my ideal month, and then multiplied that by 12, what would the result be?”

Here’s what my 1-Year plan looks like:

Part 7: 90-Day Plan

This is the last planning portion of the exercise. Here we map out our 3-month plan and goals. 

I essentially take all my big needle-mover tasks and plan to implement them as quickly as possible.

I can then spend the remaining portion of the year gathering data, optimizing, and launching new things based on what I’ve learned. (I actually make a new 90-day plan multiple times a year, but that's the theme of another newsletter.)

Here’s what my 90-Day plan looks like:

Part 8: Opportunities 

Inevitably when creating my vision board I have lots of ideas pop up that are worth considering, but I either:

#1 - Don’t know enough about the opportunity to action it 

#2 - I want to keep it in mind to revisit it at a later date

#3 - I can action it quite quickly, so it doesn't need to be part of my "big plan"

Focus is important as a founder, and it’s way better to action 3 things well than 7 things poorly.

Here’s what my Opportunities section looks like:

There you have it, my Vision Board System.

As promised, here is the Vision Board System fill-in-the-blank template.

I hope you find this system helpful.

Take some time this upcoming week to create your own Vision Board, and then hit me up on Twitter with what you came up with (feel free to share a screenshot on social media and tag me!).

Let's win together 🥇

Matt

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💎 Gem of the Week 💎

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