How to Find Life Purpose & Create a Vision that Gets Results

1. Welcome to "How to Find Life Purpose & Create a Vision that Gets Results": Hi, I'm Laura Miner, and I'm really excited that you're here. I am a leadership advocate and advisor and the author of Strengthened: Developing the Leader Within. I spend my days coaching, consulting, training, writing, and speaking on the critical role that leadership development plays in both business and life. While leadership development coaching can often be out of reach for many, especially when the bill isn't covered by the organization that one works for, my goal with these Skillshare classes is to make leadership development coaching more accessible to all. This course is part 1 in a series on developing the leader within. It's purposely designed to break down the building blocks of leadership, turning them into bite-size, action-oriented pieces designed to help you flourish and thrive. In this first class, we'll take an introspective exploration into who you are, what you value, and what you seek to achieve in life, both personally and professionally. It's really important that we address the personal and professional aspects of our lives because we are not one without the other. We're a whole person and leadership development, when done right, takes the whole person into account. That's why this class is packed with 20 pages of worksheets and exercises that will take you on a step-by-step journey to uncover the core values that naturally amplify your motivation, craft a vision statement that clearly articulates your goals and dreams, and discover the underlying purpose that drives you to do what you do. When you have these pieces of the puzzle in place, you have a strong foundation for leading with intention and improving results in both your personal and professional life. Now, you might be wondering, who is this class for? Well, this class is for anyone who wants to evolve in their roles as leaders, parents, coaches, teachers, and role models for the benefit and betterment of those whom you touch and influence on a daily basis. Whether you lead a small family, a workplace team, a large organization, or anything in between, the research-backed science-based teachings in this course will help you strengthen your leadership skills while building a clear and compelling vision for the future. If you take action on the worksheets and exercises that are included, you'll finish this class with a custom workbook that outlines your core values, provides insights into your life's purpose, and includes a clearly articulated vision statement to help you bring your vision to life. These are the very same principles, worksheets, and insights that I share with my private clients, and I'm super excited to be able to share them with you as well. Remember, everyone is a leader. We are all modeling the way for somebody and we owe it to them and ourselves to be the leader the world needs. Are you ready to get started? Join the class and meet me in the next video, where we'll dive a bit deeper into the workbook that you'll be creating as we begin to find life purpose and create a vision that gets results. I can't wait to see you there. 2. Creating Your Personalized Leadership Development Workbook: Hello again. I'm really glad that you're here. In this video, we're going to walk through the project that you'll be completing as part of this class. Now, to give this a better context, this class is part 1 in a multi-class series on developing the leader within. The project we'll complete in this class is actually just the first section of your personalized leadership development workbook, which you will continue to build throughout the entire series. With this specific project, we are going to explore where vision, values, and purpose collide. You see, achievement starts with clarity. When you have clarity surrounding your vision, your values, and your purpose, you have a framework for better decision-making and your future begins to unfold in intentional, and deliberate ways. You're no longer living life by default, you're living it by design. You become the architect of your own future. What are we going to do in this first project? You're actually going to complete a series of exercises designed to help you gain clarity surrounding the core values that naturally amplify your motivation and the underlying purpose that drives you to do what you do. Empowered with these insights, you'll then craft a vision statement that clearly articulates your goals and dreams, providing a roadmap to your future. There are seven exercises in total, each with their own worksheets. Exercise 1 will help you discover your life themes. In exercise 2, you'll explore your ideal life. In exercise 3, you'll start to draft your initial vision. In exercise 4, you'll uncover your values. In five, you will discover your purpose. Exercise 6 will help you evolve your vision. In exercise 7, we'll be bringing the vision to life. All the worksheets are form fillable PDFs. You can either fill them out online and then save them, and print them, or you can print them out, and fill them in by hand. This is just a matter of personal choice. After completing all the worksheets in the class, you'll have the first section of your personal leadership development workbook created. This is a foundational step for moving on to the next course in this series. But that's not the end of the project because the last exercise includes creating a cover that represent you and your vision, one that visually showcases the most important elements of your vision, your values, and your purpose. While technically you don't need anything to create this project other than a computer and your printer, many of clients actually prefer however, to have a three ring binder to keep their completed worksheets in. If you get one of those that has the clear pocket on the front, it becomes a really great way to showcase your fabulous cover and it's a wonderful daily reminder of what you are striving to achieve in life, and why. Now before we dive in to finding our life purpose and creating a vision that gets results, let's spend a few minutes in the next video exploring exactly what vision is and why it matters so much. I'll see you there when you're ready. 3. What, Exactly, is Vision? And Why Does it Matter?: Hello again and welcome back. Now that we've walked through the logistics regarding the project, I wanted to spend a few minutes talking about what exactly vision is and why it is that it is so important. My favorite definition of vision comes from author, consultant, and management expert Peter Bloch. As he shares in his book community, the structure of belonging. Vision is the deepest expression of what we want in life. It's an invitation to possibility. You see, vision is our life movie in the making. It's what we envision our future to be, fully and completely taking our whole selves into account. In the process of taking ownership of our individual futures, we lay a really important foundation for developing the leader within. Creating a vision establishes that you are not willing to passively accept what life throws at you. Instead, you are going to design a future that you are eager and excited to step into. You see you change your future by changing your thoughts, images, and conversations about that future. The future you declare and envision shapes who you are and what actions you take in the present. What you do today defines who you will become and what you will achieve tomorrow. Your vision is an expression of who you are at your core. It's deeply connected to your dreams, values, purpose, and passion, it's what you seek to create and who you seek to become. In the process of uncovering and defining your vision, you are empowered to turn your purpose into action. There's one more important point about vision that I want to share before we proceed with this class. It comes from a phenomenal leadership book called The Leadership Challenge. In this book, leadership experts, James Kouzes and Barry Posner note that in order for a vision to materialize, it has to speak to the head, the heart, and the hands. To speak to the head it must be a logical vision that is just as easy for you to explain as it is for others to understand. This is true whether you're crafting a corporate vision that inspires a large team to action or a personal vision that brings your personal dreams to fruition. In order for your vision to connect with the heart, it must be passionately driven and emotionally compelling. Picturing your vision in your mind's eye should excite you to the very core of your being. It should speak to the whole of you personally, professionally, relationally, spiritually. It should fill you with a sense of completeness that reminds you daily that you're following the path that's meant for you. Lastly, for your vision to connect with the hands, it must be actionable and has to empower forward momentum on a perpetual basis. Taken together, a clearly articulated vision provides the guard rails to bring your strengths, goals, behaviors, and actions all into alignment. Essentially, it creates a recipe for success that tells you which ingredients are necessary and helps you to bridge the gap between dreaming and achieving. The future you imagine is rooted in possibility. The minute you name your possibilities and connect them with your head, heart, and hands, they begin to take shape. This is where your vision starts to come to life. But this doesn't happen by magic, it's actually the result of science and psychology. In the next video, we will explore the research-backed insights that explain why this is the case. But before we head over there, I would love if you would leave a comment below sharing your biggest takeaway from this lesson, I'd love to know what really resonated with you and how it will shape your vision moving forward. Once you're ready and you've left your comment, I will look forward to meeting you in the next lesson. I'll see you there. 4. Understanding The Science of Vision: Welcome back. In the last lesson, we explored what exactly vision is. With that foundation in place, it is now time to dive into one of my favorite subjects, the science of vision. Understanding the science behind vision is more important than a lot of people realize, because it underlies how and why a clearly articulated vision comes to life. The interesting thing about vision is that even though it is really well-researched and it's powerful benefits are very well-documented, the practice of vision is actually severely under-utilized. It's often talked about in theory, but implemented by few. Yet history shows us countless examples of companies and individuals who were able to achieve a monumental feats because they crafted a detailed, vivid vision and then pursued it with unrelenting passion and persistence. Thankfully, those success stories have left remarkable clues for us to follow. So let me share one of my very favorite examples, Walt Disney and his famous mantra "If you can dream it, you can do it." If you're unfamiliar with Walt's backstory, the odds were actually stacked against him from the get-go. He was born into a poor family headed by a very ill tempered, abusive father. The family environment was so negative and toxic that all four Disney kids were eager to fly the coop and escape their father's violent temper. Despite Walt's harsh upbringing and the years of undo criticism, Walt learned to dream big, focus on the positive and never ever let the pain of his past darken the brightness of his future. He had a very clear vision of what he wanted for his future. He held a deep-seated belief that if you dream big dreams and consistently work at those dreams, anything is possible. Walt wasn't alone in his beliefs. Decades of research and thousands of examples have shown the benefits of connecting with our dreams and creating a compelling, meaningful vision. But if this is the case, why don't more people take the time to do so? Could it be because visions are often misunderstood? I'll admit, I haven't always had one myself. I thought I did, was my annual goal statement. But it wasn't a vision, it was nowhere close. Visions aren't about goals, at least not exclusively. True, they provide a powerful framework for identifying the goals that will bring your vision to fruition. But visions are far bigger and more compelling than a set of goals, they're aspirational, inspirational, they act as an energetic force that pulls you into your vision's orbit. When you put pen to paper and start bringing your vivid vision to life, psychologically, your activation energy is being triggered. Now, if you're unfamiliar with the concept of activation energy, it originated in chemistry. It speaks to the minimum amount of energy required for a reaction to occur. A good example of this can be seen in the process of lighting a match. The action begins with a quick, easy strike against the side of the box, that's the minimum amount of energy it takes to initiate the process, and then from there, a chemical reaction occurs that causes the match to flare up. The only difference when applying this concept to psychological processes is that we're referring to a practical mental model of activation energy. In other words, what is the minimal amount of energy required to launch an individual to action? As it turns out, the act of capturing the vibrant and specific details of your future vision serves as activation energy. Once triggered, powerful reactions that pave the way to making the vision a reality are set into motion. This isn't magic, it's science. As the research has shown, having a clearly articulated vision, primes important areas of brain. It rewires who you are and who you're becoming and does so at the cellular level. As the field of neuroscience has revealed, your thoughts and actions are continually changing the structure of your brain. When you repeatedly think about something or consistently take action in the direction of those thoughts, your brain changes its physical structure in response. In other words, you are constantly wiring in and actively creating the person you are becoming. This is the process of neuroplasticity. This is why having a vision that connects with the head, the hands, and the heart is so vitally important. Your vision is the gateway to your future. While admittedly, uncovering your vision can be challenging at times. But those challenges often arise from forgetting the age old adage about eating an elephant. How do you do so? How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. That is what we're going to do with the rest of this course. Step-by-step, one exercise at a time, we are going to uncover your vision, connect with your values, discover your purpose, and bring your future self into sharp focus. That is the start to developing the leader within. If you are ready to roll up your sleeves and craft a vision that gets results, then meet me in the next lesson where we will dive into exercise 1, discovering your life themes. I will be in the next video waiting for you, when you are ready to keep going. I'll see you there. 5. How to Uncover Your Vision: Hello again and welcome back. Now that we know what a vision is and we have an understanding of the science that underpins it and how that fuels our success, let's get to work discovering our purpose and crafting a vision that gets results. The interesting thing when it comes to vision is that for most of us, our vision already exists. Even if we haven't yet realized it, it lies in our passions, it's embedded in our values. If we look closely enough, we often see evidence of it strewn throughout our lives. Our job then is to look for the patterns, connect those dots, and bring our vivid vision to the forefront of our thoughts. Now admittedly, this isn't always easy or intuitive, but with a few intentional exercises, we can begin to uncover the clues that bring our vision into focus. Now before we dive into the first exercise, I want to share a little bit with you about my personal story so you can see how the themes in my life intersected and surfaced, forming who I am today and the vision I hold for my future. You see, my passion for positively improving and enhancing workplace cultures, first surfaced in 1991. I was only 19 years old. But pure happenstance put me in a physical location where I actually overheard my management team voicing their frustrations during their weekly management meeting. As I listened to them complain about the morale at our location and the lack of interdepartmental teamwork that was taking place, I realized that what I wasn't hearing were any productive conversations surrounding possible solutions. As I continued to listen, ideas for improving the situation quickly and feverishly started exploding in my mind. It just felt natural, it was very instinctive for me. As I began scribbling these ideas down, more and more ideas continued to flow. Before I knew it, I had a long list and it was a list that I was overwhelmingly excited by. A few days later, still unable to shake the optimism that I had towards making a difference and improving the environment, an opportunity arose for me to share a few of those ideas with my then current boss. Thankfully, she was really open and receptive to my insights. She was super appreciative of my efforts and she responded by telling me to craft an implementation plan, which I've got to tell you, I eagerly dove into with full force. Now it's actually been nearly 30 years since that happened, but I can still remember how invigorated my soul felt to work on solutions that would improve our workplace culture while positively impacting the livelihoods of our employees. In that moment, the seeds that would eventually shape the vision and purpose that I live into to this very day, were planted. When I submitted my proposal to her, I fully expected that she and the management team would review my suggestions. Then possibly, maybe if I was lucky, maybe they would find value in an idea or two. I was floored when not only was the vast majority of my proposal met with praise, but I was put in charge of that new initiative. Here's the thing about leadership. I was given the support I needed to succeed. They gave me the space required to learn and work through the various challenges that popped up along the way. They gave me an opportunity to scratch the surface of a passion that would eventually become my life's work. My boss back then, she was an amazing leader who showed me the profound impact that leaders could have on culture and morale. The seed that she planted in that 19-year-old me, while it took decades to fully germinate, that absolutely holds a direct correlation to why this course right here even exists and why it is so important for me personally to make leadership developing coaching available and accessible to all. When we reflect on our past and we intentionally seek out those times in our lives when our interests were sparked, we often find that elements of our dreams and passions were sitting there in plain sight all along. They were just waiting to be discovered. Sometimes the clues are found in past experiences, like the one I just shared, or in the books we're drawn to, or the volunteer opportunities we seek, or the conversations we get excited about, or the subjects we choose to study further. You see, when we take time to explore and introspect on the passions that exist in our lives, certain themes emerge. They're often embedded in the emotions and excitement of our past and when we connect with them, a path unfolds, unearthing our vision for the future. Let's do a little digging and begin exploring that path. On this page, you'll see an opportunity to download a PDF. As I mentioned in a previous video, these PDFs are form fillable, which means you can fill them out online and then save them and print them if you prefer to do that or you can print out a blank copy and then fill it in by hand. This is entirely up to you. It's really just a matter of personal preference. Make the choice that resonates most. Now this first exercise includes 25 questions to help you identify those recurrent themes that exist in your life, but here's the trick. The trick here is not to overthink the questions, but to give yourself the space to explore whatever naturally surfaces for you. If a question doesn't fit, skip it. But if another question is worthy of multiple answers or more time, give it the time and reflection it deserves. You want to allow yourself the opportunity to go deep with any areas that resonate, because this is often where your themes and connections lie. After you've finished the exercise, I would love for you to share your biggest take away in the comment section below. Let us know which question really tugged at you and what insights surfaced as a result. I can't wait to hear what came up for you. After you've completed the exercise, I will look forward to meeting you in the next video, where we will actually use the responses from this worksheet and this exercise to build into the next step of the process. When you're ready and after you've finished this one, I will look forward to seeing you there. 6. Exploring Your Ideal Life: Welcome back and congratulations on taking action with the first exercise of this class. Questions are an incredibly powerful tool for getting us to the harder things. They make us think about subjects and think in ways that we often don't take the time to do on a normal basis. But once we engage with our own thoughts and insights at this level and through the process of questioning, it is amazing what can surface. As you might have already noticed, explorative question based exercises, often unveil insight that were bubbling under the surface, but may have been obvious enough to grab our attention any sooner. In this lesson, we're going to use the answers from Exercise 1 to help us shape and form exercise 2. You're going to start by grabbing your completed exercise 1 worksheet and read through all of your answers. Really reflect on what each answer means to you and as you do so, look for patterns that emerge surrounding those passions and themes that repeatedly arose for you. Perhaps you see that maybe a love of learning has consistently surfaced. Or maybe there's evidence of a particular activity that has repeatedly captivated your thoughts and attention. Maybe you find yourself continually drawn to a certain subject, or perhaps towards supporting a specific cause. Now I will say this, the answers can be far and wide. They will be very different for everyone. But connecting with those unique things that routinely surface for you is a really powerful gateway to discovering your passions and crafting a compelling, clearly articulated vision. With these connections and insights in mind, I want you to set a timer for 10 minutes. You're going to close your eyes and you're going to imagine that it's 10 years from now. Your efforts of all paid off and you were living your ideal life, thriving in every way imaginable. Each and every day is the expression of what you would always hoped it would be and the life you've created fills you with and energy, meaning, and purpose. I want you to get up close and personal with the details. Picture at all in your mind's eye. Where do you live? Who are you with? What kind of lifestyle are you enjoying? What is your career look like? What kind of work life balance do you enjoy? How do you spend your downtime? How's your health and fitness? What are your spiritual practices? Are you actively involved in community? What impact are you having on others? What legacy are you building, and how will it continue on after you're gone? I want you to imagine every area of your life and to do so with great detail, I want you to feel what it's like to be living your ideal life. When your timer sounds, I want you to capture the details of the ideal life that you have just envisioned by using the worksheet provided to repeatedly complete the statement, in my ideal life, fill in the blank. You'll put one ideal life thought into each white box, but leave the yellow area above the white box blank for the moment. We'll get to that in just a second. Now the more detailed and specific your thoughts and ideas about your ideal life are, the better. But don't overthink it, and don't censor yourself. Just write down what came to mind when you took a detailed look at your life 10 years from now. This is the beginning of your vivid vision. As a quick side note, everyone's journey is different. Adjust the prompt if it makes sense for you to do so. As an example, if you're currently focused on building a business, you may want to change the prompt to in my ideal business instead of in my ideal life, totally up to you. Remember, the process is about you and your future. So make any adjustments to the prompt that support you in that journey. Now, once you've captured the details surrounding your ideal life, use that yellow space above the whitespace to assign a category label to that ideal life note, some sample categories might include things like career relationships, finance, physical health, emotional health, spirituality, recreation, community, social, personal growth, physical environment. I think you get the idea. Once you've assigned a category to each statement, you will be ready to move on to the next lesson, where we will continue to build towards crafting a vision that gets results. So get your timer ready and have fun with the process. Give yourself the gift of truly connecting with the ideal life your future self is enjoying. Then when you finish the exercise and you're ready to move on, I will look forward to meeting you in the next lesson. I'll see you there soon. 7. Crafting Your Vision Statement - Take 1: Hello again and welcome back. I am so glad that you're continuing to make progress on your journey toward and covering your purpose in crafting a vision that gets results. In the last video, you connected with what your ideal life looks like. This is a critically important first step in crafting a meaningful vision, and now that you have that clarity, we're going to use those insights as a starting point that empowers your vision to start taking shape. But before we dive in, I want to share some very important tips on how to craft your initial draft vision. Taking time with this step is incredibly important because visions themselves are incredibly important. Our vision guides the path we follow. It defines our purpose and goals, and provides guard rails for decision-making that keeps us on the right path and moving in the direction of our dreams. Put another way, a meaningful detailed vision empowers you to chart a deliberate path to a purposeful future. On that basis, the exercise that you'll complete at the end of this video will produce a first draft of your vision, but it's really important to keep reminding yourself that this is just a first draft. Don't let a quest for perfection stand in the way of completion. Version done is always better than version none. So the goal with this exercise is just to get the draft done and do so knowing that it will continue to evolve and develop as you make your way through this course. As you may have already noticed, every exercise that we've complete builds on the one before, and the one after this is no different. So in the immortal words of Nike, Just Do It. Get the draft written. But before you begin your writing, I want to share five tips that will really help you to craft a compelling, meaningful vision that gets results. By incorporating these aspects into your first draft, you will find that your vivid vision begins to naturally take shape in a powerfully supportive way. Tip number 1, make it vivid, specific, and detailed. Your vision is a picture in the form of words that speaks to your head, your heart, and your hands. The more detailed it is, the more power it has to act as a catalyst to change. Research across several fields has affirmed that our words create our worlds. We move in the direction of the images that we envision, the conversations we hold, and the text that we read. As thoughts translate into action, positive outcomes follow. This is why visualization is standard practice in the field of sports psychology. As one research study show, basketball players who spend 50 percent of their practice time visualizing a perfect free throw consistently outperformed those who practice shooting the ball 100 percent at the time. That's mind-blowing to me. But it all starts with a vivid, specific, and detailed vision of what you want your future to hold. There's no set number of pages or rigid framework to follow. It's just you envisioning your amazing future, seeing the incredible details come to life and connecting with the emotions as your ideal life unfolds on paper before your eyes. Tip number 2, anchor it in the future. The future oriented nature of the vision is far more important than is often realized. As the research has shown, constructing a clear compelling image of your future affects the thoughts, ideas, and feelings that you actually hold in the present. Your attitudes and ability shift in response to the vision you hold. Further developing hope and optimism in the process, which are important ingredients for success. When you possess a clearly articulated vision and you revisit it regularly, you set the wheels in motion for where you are going and who you will be when you get there. This is an important aspect that's often overlooked. Your vision isn't just about what you're working to achieve, it's also about who you are becoming in the process. This is a concept we'll explore in a little bit more detail later in the series. How far out in the future should your vision be anchored? There's a bit of flexibility here and it depends on your life stage and your aspirations, but 5-10 years is ideal. You want it far enough out that you have the time and space needed to bring your aspirational vision to fruition, but not so far out that you lose sight of what it is or why it matters. Tip number 3, check that your vision challenges you. If your vision does not push you out of your comfort zone and challenge you to grow more, learn more, and become more, ask yourself if you have truly captured its full essence. As the research has shown, endeavors that require you to learn new skills, develop additional competencies, and expand your knowledge and awareness, these actively promote self-efficacy while increasing perseverance in the face of obstacles. In other words, big, challenging visions motivate elevated effort in the pursuit of our aspirations. However, small visions that rest comfortably within the boundaries of our comfort zone often fade into the background having been weighed down by boredom and disinterest. This is why it's so important to remember that if your vision doesn't scare you at least a little bit, you may need to revisit it. Tip number 4, confirm it's based on a growth mindset. A growth mindset rests on a foundation of believing that who you are and what you are capable of can be cultivated through your own intentional efforts. It's the difference between someone who feel stuck, with the hand they were dealt, and someone who uses that hand as a starting point. A hallmark of those with a growth mindset is their willingness to push through obstacles, their ability to reframe failures as learning opportunities and the way that they turn setbacks into successes. Those with a growth mindset are able to dismiss judgment while increasing resiliency, and they do so knowing they're on a path to discovery that will include feedback in the form of obstacles. This is a process that is empowering to growth minded individuals because it paves the way to making that future vision a reality. Finally, tip number 5, ensure that your vision is inspiring. A vision naturally and organically inspires action when there's an emotional connection to the purposeful future that you're creating. When you start to feel the excitement and enthusiasm surrounding those vivid details of your vision, such as who you are becoming, what you're achieving, the impact you're making and the lifestyle you're enjoying, your intrinsic motivation will deepen, your hope will be sparked, and your optimism will build. You see details. Details transform a plain vision into a vivid vision, and details imbue it with the passion that makes it compelling. When you are truly moved by your vision, you will move mountains to achieve it. So those five tips once more. Tip number 1, make it vivid, specific, and detailed. Number 2, anchor it in the future. Number 3, check that it challenges you. Number 4, confirm it's based on a growth mindset and 5, ensure that it's inspiring. With those five tips in mind, picture your future like a jigsaw puzzle. Your vision is the image on the front of the box. With this clear image before you, you can arrange the pieces and assemble the puzzle. However, without a clear image depicting the end result, putting together the puzzle can be a serious challenge. It's important to note that a meaningful, compelling vision takes time to craft. Rarely does it flow from the mind to the hand and to the paper in super quick succession. It usually takes dedicated time and deliberate effort to capture the vivid moving details of your future vision. Knowing this, I want you to set yourself up for success. Do so by turning off your phone, turning off all notifications before you get started, hang a do not disturb sign if necessary, and give yourself a solid few hours of distraction free time to get lost in this process. The good news is you've already done a lot of the work. The questions you answered, the statements you completed, and the categories that you assigned to your ideal life exercise, these have brought your themes and passions to the surface. They've helped you identify what is most important to you and they've already begun shaping the details of your future. So writing your draft vision statement is simply a matter of bringing all those details together. With that, it is time to start writing. I have included a worksheet for this process, and just like all the others, it is form fillable. You can either type your vision directly onto the worksheet and then you can save it and print it, or you can print out a blank worksheet and write your vision by hand. It really is just a matter of personal choice, so do what feels right. Then when you're done, I would love for you to leave a comment sharing what it was like to actually get your draft on paper, and what was your biggest takeaway in the process? I know from experience, both my own and working with clients, that getting the draft done can actually be the hardest part of this entire journey, but it's also one of the most rewarding once it's completed. I will look forward to hearing what your biggest takeaway was so that I can celebrate your victory with you in the comments section below. As always, when you are done, I will be so looking forward to meeting you in the next lesson, where we're going to take a deep dive into your personal values and how they shape your vision, your choices, and your overall life. When you are done with your draft vision, I will look forward to seeing you in the comments below, as well as in the next video. I'll see you there soon. 8. 7 Steps to Uncovering Your Values: Wow, completing your initial draft is such a big task. I am so excited for you. In fact, I think it's time for a little mini celebration in honor of your accomplishment. Congratulations. I do hope that you will take some time to celebrate your achievement. Because completing the draft really is a big deal. Most people don't put this much thought or effort into their futures. The live lives of quiet desperation, passively accepting whatever comes their way. But not you, not you. You are creating a meaningful future for yourself and I am so excited for what awaits you. With the first draft of your vision complete, the next step in the process is to gain clarity on your values and ensure that your vision and values are in alignment. You see whether we are completely aware of them or not, we all hold certain values dear. This impacts every area of our lives. Now, these impacts can be positive when we live in accordance and alignment with our values, or substantially negative when they are in opposition. But it all starts with identifying the core values that shape our lives and ensuring that they're truly are values and not based on the expectations of others. Now this brings up an important challenge that we need to explore. Frequently, our values are not necessarily our own. They are the extension and sometimes the expectation placed on us by others. Maybe your parents instilled in us that family is the most important value. Or perhaps our spouse or partner placed in expectation for us to adopt love as our highest priority. Or maybe we work in an environment that dictates that the company's core values become our own, regardless of whether they're in alignment with our personal code of conduct or not. If our values are misaligned or even if we've never truly identified or introspected on them, it can leave a gap where bad decision-making creeps in, cognitive dissonance takes hold, and our actions and values become in conflict with one another. It's in this gap that stress breeds. This process can have severe consequences on our health, our relationships, and our general well-being. Now, you may be wondering if values are this critical, why didn't we address them before we created the initial draft of our vision? That's a great question, I'm glad you asked. A combination, a personal experience, formal research and education, and countless interactions with companies and clients in a variety of industries have taught me a critically important lesson. Contrasting values against past experiences and future expectations simultaneously, is one of the most powerful ways to truly connect with your values. After all, it's really easy to say that you hold a particular value, but it's far more difficult to live into it when faced with a decision that places two important values in conflict with one another. In this video, we're going to uncover, define, and connect with our core values. But before we do, it's important to clarify what exactly values are. The dictionary defines them as a person's principles or standards of behavior. One's judgment of what is important in life. In practice, our values reflect our needs, wants, and desires, serving as a driving force in who we are and what we stand for. Value shape our priorities and act as a filter in decision-making. Living authentically into them can lead to a life full of joy, fulfillment and satisfaction. However, lack of clarity surrounding our values can lead to confusion, conflict, and discontent. Identifying the values that are core and central to who we are as individuals is paramount to living wholly. Luckily, the process for doing so is both simple and rewarding. Included with this lesson is a worksheet outlining my 7 Step Method, which walks you step-by-step through the process of uncovering and prioritizing your values. In addition, I've provided a comprehensive list of values that will assist you with your exploration. But before you dive in, there is one last important note that I want to mention. Our values and the ranked priority they hold can change over time. It's important to regularly review and revise our values as needed. As an example, when I became an empty nester and active parenting was no longer part of my daily routine, I was able to elevate and re-prioritize my personal values towards education and lifelong learning. These were always important to me, but previously they felt below my value of parenting. But once my daughter was successfully launched into adulthood, I was able to reorganize the priorities I placed all my values, which led to me returning to school to pursue a formal education and leadership. What is the best way to keep your thumb on the pulse of your values? Well, I recommend that you keep your list of values readily available and then review them every 90 days. This gives you an opportunity to assess what's changing or shifting in your life and allows you to make any necessary adjustments. Now what's interesting is that often it's not the values themselves that change, but simply the priority that's assigned to them. Ask yourself, what are the values you now need to prioritize in order to achieve your vivid vision and become your future self. It is time to find out by downloading the worksheet and diving into the seven steps to uncovering your values. As with all the worksheets, it's form fillable so you can type right into the worksheet and then print it out once completed, or print it out and fill it in by hand, the choice is yours. When you are done, I would love for you to share your number 1 value in the comment section below. What that value means to you personally. You'll know more what I mean by that after you finish the exercise. After you've finished the exercise and shared your top value, I will meet you in the next video so that we can continue your journey toward unlocking your purpose and crafting a vision that gets results. I'll see you in the next video. 9. How to Unlock Your Purpose: Welcome back and congratulations on connecting with your values. The process of doing so is so incredibly empowering and it sets the stage for bringing your future vision to fruition while acting as a bridge to discovering your purpose. You see, purpose is embedded in the vivid vision that you hold for the future, and it's amplified by the core values that shape who you are. Where vision values and purpose collide, this is where your motivation to eagerly greet each day with vigor and zest emanates from. This collision stokes the fire of your calling, your meaning, your why. It's the source of wholeness that empowers you to thrive fully, to live intentionally, and to make a difference in the lives of those around you. That is why in this lesson, we're going to get to the core of your purpose. But it's important to note that unlocking your purpose is a process of self-awareness, not a one time event. It's an evolution where nothing is wasted. Every action, every step, every misstep can contribute to your purpose if you intentionally look for the lessons, identify the patterns, and then cover the themes. Most everything is built on something already in existence. But frequently, large, grandiose expectations of what purpose should be leaves us blind to what it actually is. Hints of purpose are often sprinkled throughout our lives. Though admittedly, it can be easy to miss or even ignore the signposts along the way. For me personally, my purpose bubbled under the surface for more than 25 years. It nagged me consistently. It was quiet at first, then it got louder and louder as time went on. But it wasn't until I was in my 40s that my purpose finally demanded my full attention and refused to be ignored any longer. For me, the final straw came after repeatedly facing the same workplace challenge with different clients and organizations. The pattern went like this. I'd be hired as a sales and marketing consultant to drive revenue for a company, only to quickly realize that many of the challenges they faced were systemically driven by broken leadership and fractured company cultures. The culture which was set and endorsed by those at the top was not an area that was open for discussion with the sales and marketing consultant. Any attempts that I made to address the larger more pressing issues, were swiftly stopped in their tracks. Improving workplace cultures has been a repeated theme in my life since my earliest beginnings in corporate America. It dictated the books I read, the workshops I attended, and even the magazines that I subscribed to. But it took 2-1/2 decades before I fully recognized that this was more than just curiosity. This was my passion and purpose in life and the calling it grown too loud to ignore. It was no longer quietly bubbling under the surface, it actually become all consuming. I knew pursuing this path was what I needed to do. Once I began taking action and responding to its calling, everything else began falling into place. Let me ask you, has your purpose been trying to get your intention? Has it been tugging on your shirt tails trying to get you to take notice. I know firsthand that the process of uncovering your purpose isn't always easy, but the rewards for doing so far exceed the effort. That's why I'm so excited that you're at this point in the process using the various exercises that you've completed thus far, it's now time to explore the themes that have repeatedly surfaced throughout your life. It's time to explore if there's a nagging feeling, an unanswered question, or an ongoing curiosity that has captured your intention for years or perhaps even decades. Is there an area of interests perhaps that consistently spans across different areas of your life? Are there any passions or interests in life that you haven't fully acknowledged or embraced? Remember, purpose is rarely as grandiose as it's made out to be. It's not some spectacular aim set aside for the Gandhi's and the mother Teresa, or the Martin Luther King Junior's of the world. Sometimes it's about the simplicities of just being our best and most authentic self. In fact, let me tell you the purposes that a few of my clients identified when they went through this process. Being the best teacher and role model possible, living a life that gives younger generations something to emulate. That was from a college professor. To be the voice of empathy and understanding, the head of HR in a challenging start-up. To bring humor and laughter to all I do and smiles to everyone I touch, it's from a pediatric nurse. Now what's interesting is that while the professor has a purpose more directly aligned with his professional role, the other two actually found their purpose embedded more deeply in their values. Once they connected with the root of their purpose, it allowed them to live more intentionally and deliberately fulfilling their individual purposes and living into their values on a daily basis. In both cases have brought more joy into their lives once they made that connection. What I really find fascinating about the process that you're about to complete is how often purpose was there all along, but it just didn't look how we expect it to look so we failed to see it. But the good news is the exercises that you have already completed will allow you to find and see those patterns. It's time for you to uncover your purpose. Following the step-by-step instructions that are included on the worksheet, take note of the patterns that have repeatedly surfaced for you, the emotions that they provoke, and the roles that you actually want them to play in your life on a daily basis going forward. This is your opportunity to connect those dots in your life and to let your purpose naturally rise to the surface. Once you're done, leave a comment below letting us know what your purposes and how it makes you feel to have identified it. I cannot wait to read the comments and to read what surfaces for you so that I can celebrate your discovery with you. As always, once you have finished the exercise, I will look so forward to meeting you in the next lesson, where we're going to incorporate your values at a deeper level as we take next steps to evolve your vision. I look forward to seeing you there. 10. Imbuing Your Vision with the Power of Your Purpose & Values: Can I just say, I am so excited for you. You have taken massive action towards unlocking your vision, your values, and your purpose, and I cannot wait for this next step, which will have you further evolving your vision to get the results that you desire. At this point, it is time to grab your draft vision, and read through it again. With the goal of comparing and contrasting the vision against the themes and patterns, the values and the purpose that you identified. When you go through this process, it is not at all uncommon to find that some aspects were included in your original draft version, while others may have inadvertently been left out entirely. While this can happen for a variety of reasons, it's often the result of going through the motions of life without truly connecting with what feeds our soul and drives our intrinsic motivation, so as you reread your draft vision, I want you to look to see if the themes and patterns you identified in the previous exercises are woven throughout your initial vision statement. If not, explore if your vision goes deep enough, or do you need to incorporate your themes with more detail and thoroughness? Once you've known that, I want you to reflect on the fit between your values and your vision statement. Does your initial vision statement fully reflect the values that you hold most dear? Are there any aspects of your vision that are perhaps in conflict or at odds with the priority ranking that you assigned to your values, or are there any aspects of your vision that need to be revised in order to bring you into full alignment with your values? Finally, I want you to evaluate your draft vision, and establish whether or not the purpose you uncovered, in the last exercise, is embedded in your vision. If not, what changes do you need to make to bring that purpose in and bring the vision to life? In a minute, you're going to evolve your vision, but before you do, I have two additional tips for writing a compelling and meaningful vision. Now, a few lessons ago, we had actually walked through the first five tips. As a reminder, those were make it vivid, specific, and detailed, anchor it in the future, check that it challenges you, confirm that it is based on a growth mindset, and ensure that it is inspiring. Well, here's tip number 6: Align it with your core values. When core values and vision are misaligned, it makes it far more difficult, if not impossible, to bring the vision to fruition. This is because conflicting attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors live within the misalignment. They act as roadblocks to success. In this state, values remain abstract and ambivalent until a conscious decision is made to imbue life actions and possibility for a new future with the power that those values hold. A vision that is steeped in values and aligned with who you are at your core massively supports growth and development. It propels you towards your future vision. Finally, tip number 7, infuse your vision with the passion of your purpose. Don't compare your purpose to another person's, and don't measure yourself by anyone else's yardstick. You are unique, and how you bring your purpose to life will be distinctly your own. When purpose is uncovered and embraced and your vivid vision is infused with the power of your purpose, you are empowered to live a more meaningful life, and as studies in the field of positive psychology have shown, the benefits experienced by those who score higher on the meaning in life scale include improved health, enhanced well-being, and greater cognition. Not only that, but purpose acts as a powerful motivational spark that calls you to action and helps bolster grit and perseverance in the face of challenge. Just to recap those seven tips once more before you begin writing: Tip 1, make it vivid, specific, and detailed. Tip 2, anchor it in the future. Tip 3, check that it challenges you. Tip 4, confirm it's based on a growth mindset. Tip 5, ensure that it's inspiring. Tip 6, align it with your core values, and tip 7, infuse it with the passion of your purpose. While a vision is never complete, it will always evolve, grow, and change just as you do, but the goal at this point is to make your vision as complete as possible just given where you are at in your journey in life right now. With that said, it's time to get writing and evolve your vision. Now, there is a worksheet included below for doing so, and as always, it's form-fillable, so you can either typewrite into the document, or print it out and write it by hand. Now, one last reminder before you get started. A meaningful, compelling vision, that speaks to your head, your heart, and your hands will call you to action and change your life in such significant ways. In essence, it becomes a blueprint for creating a fulfilling life and often becomes a catalyst for creating a ripple effect that positively impacts the lives of those you touch, so have fun with the process. Take time to capture your future vision in all its beautiful and brilliant detail, and when you've got those details on paper, I will be so excited to meet you in the next video where we'll put the finishing touches on your vision. Have fun writing, and I look forward to seeing you in the next lesson once you're done. 11. Bringing Your Vision to Life: Congratulations. So many people talk about big dreams, but very few actually take the necessary steps to think through their futures at a deeper level and capture those thoughts in details on paper. In fact, this is sadly why so many dreams just sit on a shelf and never materialize. Connecting with the details is what gives wings to your dreams. It's what allows you to create specific plans and goals to bring your vision to life. Congrats. Kudos to you for putting such grand and important effort into your future self. I am so excited for the life that you're creating and I cannot wait to hear about where you go from here. All right, so now that you have clarity surrounding your vision, we have one more fun and creative exercise to round out this first-class in the leadership development series. In this lesson, you're going to create a cover that represents you and your vision and that visually showcases the most important elements of your vision, your values, and your purpose. This visual element is really important because it allows you, at a quick glance, to connect with the most meaningful elements of your vision and to be reminded of what you are working to achieve. In other words, it acts as an intrinsic motivator that keeps you moving in the direction of your goals and dreams. Now there are no rules or specific directions with this exercise, simply that you create a cover for your workbook that visually represents your vision, values, and purpose. You can use lined paper, plain white paper, construction paper, whatever you choose. You can bring it to life with crayons or markers or stickers. Maybe you want to create a mosaic using letters and images ripped from a magazine. You could create it digitally using a free service like Canva and then printing it out. You can include words, pictures, quotes, milestones, outcomes. There are no limits and no rules. It is entirely about you, your vision and what connects you with the future you're creating. Have fun, be creative, and let the expression of your vision flow. Once you've created your amazing cover, upload an image so we can all celebrate your incredible accomplishment with you. As I mentioned a few minutes ago, creating your vision and capturing the details on paper really is a huge achievement. It's also the first step to bringing your vision to life. Congrats again on getting to this point and taking the steps that so few people are willing to take. I guarantee you, your future self is grateful. Wow, I cannot believe it, but we're almost done with this class, it has flown by. However, I do have a couple last goodies for you and these will round out the first section in your leadership development workbook. After you've finished your project, created your cover and uploaded an image, meet me in the next video and we will finish up our project and bring this first-class in my series on developing the leader within to an end. When you're ready, I will look forward to meeting you there. 12. You've Got a Vision - Now What? Next Steps: Welcome back to the last and final video of this class. Can't believe we're at this point already. Again, I just want to congratulate you on your achievement. You have now uncovered the core values that naturally amplify your motivation. You've crafted a vision statement that clearly articulate your goals and dreams for the future. You've discovered the underlying purpose that drives you to do what you do. These are huge achievements and they're are also an essential step toward developing the leader within. Well, we're not quite done yet. As I shared in the last lesson, got a couple of goodies for you to round out the first section of your leadership development workbook. The first is a title page for this section of your workbook. Because as I shared at the beginning of this class, this class is just one part in an entire series that I am creating on developing the leader within. With each additional class in the series, you'll be creating additional sections that continually expand the personal leadership development workbook that you began here. Now the second goody I've got for you is another worksheet. But this one's designed for you to journal your thoughts and reflections surrounding the process of writing your vision. No rules with this, nothing specific for you to write about. It's more about your personal journey and being able to capture any thoughts or insights that surface for you during this process. The third and final goody is a PDF with quotes and reminders that you can print out to help you stay on track with taking daily action towards your vision and purpose. This class and the series as a whole are based on my book, Strengthened: Developing the Leader Within. If you'd like to learn more about me or my book or you want to connect on social media, please be sure to visit sleek.bio/laurawminer. Don't forget to follow me here as well so you know when new classes in this series are released. One last time, I just want to congratulate you on your achievement. Knowing how to create a vision and putting in the time and effort to do so is such a quintessential aspect of leadership. But not everyone has the skills or fortitude to do it. But you do, and you are well on your way to bringing your vision to life. That is it for this class, but I look forward to seeing you in the next class in this series as you continue to develop the leader within. Till then, shine bright and be the leader the world needs.