Desires: How to Define Your Contribution

A personal vision statement is the key to setting your life in a particular direction.  To avoid life from tossing you from one wave of complexity to another, it's important for you to determine your course.  Gone are the days of linear thinking and long careers.   The world is a global network of choices and opportunities. 

Globalisation has brought freedom of information, education and networking, but this freedom can be overwhelming when you are trying to make specific decisions.  Your vision statement will help you let go of superfluous opportunities, save you time and energy, and help you build a life of satisfaction and calling.

Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe - Oprah

Before writing his 'I have a dream' speech Martin Luther King Jr. overheard a mother discussing her dream for her children.  Her dream was that her children would be treated equally amongst their peers; that they would be judged on their character not their race.  This was a powerful statement that not only moved Martin Luther King Jr., it changed the heart of  a nation.  What we envision moves us, sometimes slowly and sometimes quickly, forward into the future we desire.

Changing the world around you begins with painting your deepest desires in broad brush strokes, so that the sky is filled with a bold statement, for all to see.  Everyone can have vision, but to have vision you need to dig deep to find the things you desire to uniquely  create, that will in give you meaning in life.

Creating a Contribution Statement:

1. What are 8 things you love to do?  Now rank them from 1-8

2. What are 5 core values important to you? Now rank them from 1-5

3. What are your strengths?

4. If you didn't ever have to work again, what would you do?

5. When you come to the end of your life, what do you want people to say about you?

6. Who do you most admire?  Why?

Example Contribution Statements:

- Our vision is to design the best personal computer in the world - Apple

-  It's about the difference you make in peoples' lives - Michelle Obama

- My vision is to make people happy - Walt Disney

- Our vision is to end world poverty - Tear Fund

- My vision is to make the automobile available to every American - Henry Ford

- I never want to be average - Michael Jordan