ALADDIN’S CLUES:

How to Distill Your Notes into a Vision Statement

(If you have not done the "Genie in the Lamp" exercises on the CD "Who Are You, Inc." these will be meaningless to you... please do the exercise first. Thank you.)

1. Gratitude: What do you have in your dream life that you are already grateful for? Draw a BLUE box around those words.

2. Momentum: What goals are you already pursuing that you already have some momentum towards fulfilling? Underline those with your RED pen, because there is some urgency there, you are already in motion, and you may want to make your next moves on those first.

3. Possibilities: What goals or desires do you see as possibilities worth pursuing that you may not have considered possible before now? There may be challenges along the way, but perhaps you will choose one or two that are worthwhile and are likely to be fulfilling. HIGHLIGHT them in bright YELLOW and make sure they get into your long term planning. Whenever you have big goals in the game, the game is much more exciting and you are more likely to experience miracles if you take a shot at the “impossible” possibilities.

4. Misguided Notions: Look out for some of your goals, even if you’ve already highlighted them above, that are simply there to “prove something,” “fix” something, or “compensate” for some perceived or previous inadequacy. Be honest with yourself, and then take a pen and draw a line through them. It may not be easy, but it has proven to be very worthwhile to “cut out” chasing goals that you are pursuing only because you “should.” “Should” is a dirty word amongst coaches, because 9 times out of 10, when a person is pursuing a should, they are living someone else's view of life and not their own. It is not consistent with the true YOU and can be very draining of time, energy, money and other resources.

5. Values : Finally, there are values. Some of the words you wrote down represent your values, your highest ideals and aspirations. CIRCLE those words in RED anywhere on the page that they occur, even if they repeat. Circle them boldly-these words are the foundation for a future you design on purpose.

6. Vision: Take any of the words that excite you most, particularly words that represent your truest, most inspiring values, and string together a statement of vision... the way you the world IS as if you created the ideal future... for example:

"People love what they do and do what they love, living life as an extraordinary adventure, in deeply fulfilling relationships. Life is serious fun, have fun with it,... seriously!"

Enjoy your vision ! Look for it everywhere and live it every day!

In harmony,

Jonathan Flaks

"Passionate about performance, balance and lasting success."