How to write your Future Vision
A Guide to using That Sorted’s Life Premium Future Vision template to design (and realise) your dream year
Congratulations on your purchase of the Premium Future Vision template. Your Future Vision is the single most important thing you can do to shift from being a big dreamer to being a dream doer. This guide is divided into three parts:
Part one: Future Vision template: Evernote edition
This is ideal if you’re creating your very first Future Vision. This simple Evernote-based template provides a focused template to capture your ideal year. Once you’ve written down a vision for the next year that lights you up, you’ll have the intention and motivation to populate and use the “Weekly Review” component of the Google Sheets edition of the template to plan and track your progress.
Part two: Future Vision template: Google Sheets edition
This is a more advanced version of the template which is suitable for someone who’s already had experience with writing out a Future Vision. This version is designed to help you translate your ideal year into annual, quarterly, monthly and weekly objectives.
Part Three: Future Vision Tips PLUS Completed Future Vision Example
I’ve outlined a few tips I’ve picked up since writing my very first Future Vision back in 2015. I’ve also uploaded a copy of the Future Vision I wrote back then for you to reference ;)
Click here for tips to write your own Future Vision.
Future Vision template: Evernote edition.
Step 1: Purchase (or download) your Premium Future Vision Template
Visit thatsortedlife.com/all-products/template-future-vision and click on the Purchase button.
Enter your email address in the space provided.
If you aren’t already subscribed to That Sorted Life’s mailing list, go ahead and check the tickbox to subscribe (believe me when I say this.. you DEFINITELY want to be subscribed to our mailing list. Good things… all the time)
Your next step will depend on whether you’re using a Discount Code or not...
If paying by credit card: Enter your credit card details in the relevant field, and then enter your billing details and click the Continue button
If using a Discount Code: Enter your code in the relevant field, if you’ve entered a valid code, your discount will be automatically applied and then you can proceed to add your credit card details (if applicable), billing details and click the Continue button
Once you’ve entered the requested information, review your information to ensure it’s correct and click the Purchase button.
Step 2: Download the PDF file
When your order is confirmed, you’ll see the following screen. Click the highlighted hyperlink to download the PDF.
The PDF contains two links (towards the bottom of the page).
Click the Click here to access template (Evernote Version) hyperlink.
Step 3: Log in to your Evernote account and save a copy of the template to your account
A copy of the template will automatically open in your Browser. Click the Save Copy to Evernote button in the top right of the window.
Figure 1: Evernote web client screen
Evernote’s account signup or sign in window
If you aren’t already signed into Evernote’s web client, you will be presented with a window similar to the one on the left.
If you don’t already have an Evernote account, go ahead and register for one (it’s free).
If you already have an Evernote account, enter your credentials and sign in.
Once you’ve signed into your Evernote account, you’ll be presented with the same screen you saw earlier (see Figure 1: Evernote web client screen above).
Click the Save Copy to Evernote button. Evernote will open a new tab or window and load your copy of the template into the window.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully created a copy of the template which you can now edit via Evernote’s web client or any other Evernote desktop or Evernote mobile client of your choice 🎉
Dialog window confirming that the template has been successfully copied to your Evernote account
Step 4: Write your Future Vision!
The final step is to grab a drink, make sure you’re undisturbed and get into a creative environment where you can let your imagination run wild as you dream up your perfect year.
Future Vision Premium Template: Google Sheets Edition
☝️NB: First things first, make sure you’ve done Step #1 and Step #2 from the Evernote edition section above. This section assumes that you’ve already downloaded the Premium Template PDF.
Make sure you complete the first two steps in the previous section before continuing
Step 1: Save a copy of the template to your Google Drive account
After clicking the Click here to access template Google Sheets version hyperlink (in the premium template PDF), the master template will automatically open in your browser.
Click the File menu and then select the Make a copy option to save a copy of the template to your Google Drive.
Click the animated thumbnail to view a larger version (note: the image may take a few seconds to load)
You will have the option of renaming the file and selecting the specific folder in your Google Drive that you would like to save the copy of the template to.
Step 2: Write your Future Vision!
If you haven’t already written your Future Vision via the Evernote version of the premium template, then set aside a couple of distraction-free hours to let your imagination run wild as you dream up (and document) your perfect year.
If you’ve already written an exciting Future Vision in Evernote, then you may opt to copy/paste that into this version as well. Why on earth would you want to do that?
Because this Google Sheets version has got tricks up its sleeve that the Evernote version simply cannot match 😉
Step 3: Set your annual objectives
The power of describing your ideal year lies in the sense of clarity and powerful intention you’ll experience as a result of making that effort. Your Future Vision will continue to serve you throughout the year (and beyond) as your “source of truth”–something you can evaluate the inevitable decisions, opportunities and choices you’ll be faced with in the coming months, with quiet confidence.
However…
Having a vision isn’t enough. To make your ideal year a reality, you have to translate it into a plan with clear, measurable objectives to aim for. That’s what this next step is all about.
Re-read your Future Vision and describe a maximum of five personal and five professional goals to achieve this year. Here is an outline of the criteria I hold myself to when describing my annual goals:
Write the goal as if it’s already happened, in past tense. There is power in framing an objective as something that’s already done–as opposed to writing it as yet another “to-do” item that has yet to come about
Make sure the goal is tangible and measurable. I try to avoid defining “fluffy” goals. You know the type, they sound all woo-woo and wonderful, but when push comes to shove, it’s damn near impossible to track your progress towards their achievement, let alone know when you’ve succeeded or not
You don’t have to apply this criteria to your goals, but I’d be willing to bet that you’ll save yourself a lot of angst if you do 😌
Congratulations! You’ve captured your Future Vision and translated your ideal year into meaningful, measurable objectives.
The next step is to “chunk your annual goals down” into quarterly, monthly and weekly objectives so that every single week you know what you need to focus on, in order to make your most important goals happen.
Future Vision Tips
I wrote my first Future Vision in 2015–and I’ll never start another year of my life without one ever again.
Over the past four years I’ve picked up a thing or two and I hope these tips will accelerate your success in the pursuit of your personal vision.
The most important thing I’ve learned.
The most important thing I’ve learned is to be bold. Dig deep and interrogate your wishes and motivations. Grow a pair. If you do this, chances are the goals you set will feel wildly unrealistic. In all likelihood, despite your efforts, you’ll fall short of your goal. That’s ok.. provided you remain 100% commitment to pursuing it until the last day of the last month of that year.
Here’s the thing… your goals are important, but the person you become in the pursuit of your most preciously held desires, is WAY more important than any one goal could ever be. That’s what makes this process a life-changing experience. You become someone worth becoming.
Every year you learn more about yourself, you realise that there some things you thought you wanted (but not enough to do what’s necessary to achieve them). You discover your capacity to make anything you (truly) want happen. You’re constantly surprised by how when you put pen to paper, and express your wishes with intention, the universe truly does conspire to make it happen.
Sounds addictive huh? It is.
Be patient.
Think of your Future Vision as a hypothesis, a wild guess, if you will. You’re trying to imagine what future “you” will experience, contribute, have, give etc.. as best as present “you” possibly can. It’s an imperfect science.
Some of your guesses will work out as planned, others won’t, others will eventually materialise but on a very different time scale than you anticipated (or wanted).
“That’s what makes this ( Future Vision) process a life-changing experience. You become someone worth becoming”
With patience, you’ll start to notice that you can (literally) have anything you want, but you can’t have everything you want… well at least not right now. The good news is that with every passing year, your hypothesis becomes more accurate, you’re more predictable and more confident. You’re right more often than you’re wrong. It’s a fun, fulfilling and meaningful experience. If you’re patient.
Share your vision with others.
As mortifying as the thought of sharing your most deeply held wishes might be, it is the only way you’ll gather the support and sense of accountability that anything worth achieving demands.
When you put your desires “out there”–something happens (I’m really not the woo-woo type, so I’ll leave it at). I’ve experienced this time and time again, and I swear by it. This poem by J.B Rittenhouse expresses this idea so elegantly.
“I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store.
For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.
I worked for a menials hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have willingly paid”
I don’t know if this is true for you, but the worst person to hold myself accountable to is me. That’s where the power of accountability can become your biggest ally, if you’re willing to share your Future Vision with people whose opinions matter to you.
Use the fear of looking like an utter knob to friends and family light a proverbial fire under your arse. Share your vision.
