Visualizing Our Future Self // Crafting a Daily Vision Vs Long Term Vision for Lasting Change

Visualizing Our Future Self: Daily Vision for Sustainable Growth The Power of Daily Vision vs. Long-Term Vision

In this episode of the Self Development Collective, I explore why visualizing our future self through creating a daily vision works better than focusing solely on long-term goals.

From Long-Term Vision to Yearly Vision

I share my personal journey of discovering how a 5-10 year vision, while inspiring, can sometimes feel overwhelming and demotivating due to the gap between where we are now and where we want to be. Instead, I've found that creating a more accessible yearly vision provides a realistic stepping stone that maintains our connection to our long-term dreams.

Implementing Your Daily Vision in Real Life

This approach has completely shifted how I approach my days and weeks:

• Consider your current life stage (for me, parenting two under five)
• Identify what's achievable now versus what needs gradual work
• Implement some parts of your vision immediately
• Work steadily toward other aspects

The yearly vision serves as that middle ground—close enough to feel achievable but still moving us toward our bigger dreams. By visualizing our future self just one year ahead, we focus on the next step rather than feeling discouraged by the distance to our destination.

Visualizing Our Future Self with Flexibility

Sometimes it's not about waiting until we can do something perfectly, but adjusting how we do it now:

• Journal once a week instead of daily
• Connect with friends monthly rather than weekly
• Maintain consistency with what's possible in your current season

This episode completes our series on habits and values, offering a practical way to visualize our future self through both daily and yearly visions.

Receive bite-sized insights and practical strategies to boost your confidence, nurture relationships, and live authentically in the face of life's challenges. https://selfdevelopmentcollective.com/email-sign-up/

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Hi there, my name is Julia and welcometo the Self Development Collective.
Here we explore personal developmentin a way that honors all parts of
ourselves, including the tricky parts.
I share genuine stories andreflections mixed with ideas from
psychotherapy and self developmentto help us figure out how to live
more authentically and build deeperconnections with ourselves and others.

(00:21):
I am so excited to have you here.
Hey guys, and welcome to this episodeof the Self Development Collective.
So in this episode today, we're goingto be talking about visualizing our
future self, creating a daily visionversus having a long term vision.
the reason that I want to talk aboutthis is because I came across a
YouTube video at the start of theyear that was talking about, getting

(00:43):
organized, having that vision.
Thinking about who we want to be, whatwe want to do and what we want to have.
I have set visions for sucha long time and it's taken
me a long time to learn this.
I just wanted to share it withyou because this is so helpful.
I was creating this vision that was like,yeah, I want to achieve this and this.
it was like a 10 year vision,maybe a five year vision at best.

(01:04):
And so then what happened was I wroteall this into chat GPT and I was
like, okay, give me a daily vision.
And then it came outwith this daily vision.
And I was like, I don't thinkI'm going to be able to achieve a
daily vision like this for a whilebecause, for example, and I just
want to give you a concrete example.
I looked at this vision and I waslike, okay, counseling clients, this

(01:26):
is not something that I will be ableto do without studying for two years.
And realistically with where I am rightnow in my life with two kids under five.
Studying full time would not be somethingthat I would do and I'm grateful that
it's not something that I have to doat this point in my life this vision
I've created to counsel clients is notsomething that I'm going to be able to

(01:46):
do for at least another 3 4 years and soI kept wondering why I was finding this
vision so demotivating and why I wasgetting so frustrated then I realized it
was because, Sometimes when we set theselong term visions, when we have this idea
of our future self, it can feel so faraway that it can actually be demotivating

(02:06):
because we're getting frustrated thatthe gap between where we are right
now and where we want to be so far.
So what happened was.
I was looking at this and I was like,okay, I need to look at this differently.
I need to be realistic about the lifestage that I'm in right now, which
is such a key part of this work.
It's looking at, what we feel isachievable for us with the values

(02:28):
that we have in the life stagethat we're in at the moment.
So what happened was Ihad two realizations.
I was like, okay, I need.
To create an ideal daily life or, idealday, but it needs to be based on where
I want to be at the end of the year.
I need to create a smallerstepping stone for myself.
I'm still heading towards thatfinal goal or, heading towards

(02:48):
that five or ten year vision,
But I just needed something, I neededto close that gap a bit Give myself
an idea of what taking a step forwardlooks like versus consistently
focusing on where I am versus,where I want to be in 10 years time.
And the reason I think this can bereally helpful, so creating this ideal
day based on where we want to be atthe end of the year and thinking of

(03:09):
our future self helps create a moreaccessible, realistic stepping stone for
us in our lives, but it still maintainsour connection to the longterm vision.
So it's we're not fully giving up onhope that we're going to get there.
And I think for me, that was onething I always felt like if I wasn't.
Going straight for that vision,then I was never going to get there.
But the reality of itis, it does take time.
It takes stepping stones.

(03:30):
And this was me being willing to createone for myself so that I had an idea,
on how I could direct my daily living.
And that's another thing I think Has beenreally helpful having that daily vision
of who I want to be a year from now hasreally changed up the way I approach my
days because when I wake up and I look atthat daily vision and my values probably

(03:52):
once a week and I look at it and I'mlike, okay, what am I doing right now?
Is this aligning towards, being thatperson at the end of the year, doing
what I would hope I am doing by thatstage and having what I hope I would
have, that's how I consistentlymaintain that internal alignment.
And that vision is so helpfulbecause it consistently reminds me
of where I hope to be at the end ofthe year, and it feels so much more

(04:14):
achievable and closer than havingthat five year me or that 10 year me,
So when it comes to developing adaily vision, if you have that 10
or 5 year vision, and if you don't,that's fine, but if you did, we can
look at the values underlying thatvision, and then bring that back
into that ideal day within a year.
So sometimes it's looking at, okay, oneof the most important things when it

(04:37):
comes to my work is maintaining thatreflection, maintaining that part of
me that really likes to read, reflect,and then talk about what I've learned.
this is what helps me to do that.
So I was like, this is somethingthat I can definitely do and still
be doing at the end of the year.
So it really changed up the way I approachthings and gave me a deeper understanding
of why I was doing what I was doing.

(04:57):
It was connecting it to those values.
we're making sure that daily vision reallyhas those values that you've considered
and those values have become habits.
And that's something I've spokenabout in one of the recent episodes.
So when we create our ideal day, sayyou've thought about this and you're
answering what you want to be, what youwant to do and what you want to have.
In a year's time, something thatI think can be really helpful.

(05:20):
So say you put that into chat GPT, like Idid, and it comes out with this beautiful
and it's a, it's creepy, amazing howgood it is at coming up with this lovely
idea of what you want your day to looklike, then I think there's two things.
There are some things that wecan implement straight away.
And there are some things that weneed to gradually work towards.

(05:41):
for example, I wanted to really take thetime to reflect, read, and make these
connections that I use in the podcast.
I can do that on a weekly basis for sure.
That is something I can live outor I can bring in those values and
activities into my week right now.
it really shifted the wayI attended to, my week.
I say week because I thinkdaily might be a bit tricky.

(06:03):
daily almost becomes a little inflexible.
Weekly allows us to lookat it and be like, okay.
And especially if you're a parent orhave, caretaking responsibilities,
whatever the situation is, thinkingthat we can do something consistently
every single day for me is a very rigidWay of thinking because I knew that
wasn't achievable, especially with kids.
Some days I wake up and noneof these things are achievable.

(06:25):
Basically it was about, okay, somethings I can implement into my week now.
I can actually start being some ofthose parts of that person, that
future self that I'm visualizing.
I can start being that now.
I was like, I don't have to wait towrite in a journal once or twice a week.
I started doing those things and Ireally started noticing The change,
the shift that I had made internally, Ifelt like I was really working towards

(06:49):
that stepping stone that was gettingto that further part of myself, I
was no longer focusing on that gap.
I was actually reallyfocused on the next step.
I recognized too that some things needto be worked towards, wanting to have
the larger things, might take time.
So I think the important thing is to lookat what are we working towards as well?
What are the things that, we mightnot see the results immediately,

(07:12):
but we know we're heading that way.
And so whether it was a businessor the podcast what am I doing to
make sure that I am still growingtowards becoming that person?
Even if the outcome isn'tright in front of me.
So I do think that there's again,there's certain actions that are
who we want to be and what we wantto do and what we want to have.
then there are certain things.
with what we want to have that can taketime, but it's like separating the two

(07:34):
and looking at what we can implement nowversus what we can start working towards.
we recognize that we're stilltaking that step and heading
towards that longer term vision.
And The reason that I'm talking aboutthis is because I do think that having
that idea of who we want to be at theend of the year, what we want to have,
what we want to do gives us an ideaof what steps to take tomorrow and

(07:55):
the day after and the day after that.
And it really can shift our decisionmaking on a daily basis pretty quickly.
And that's what I love about thisbecause having that 10 year vision is
amazing, but it can be super demotivatingwhen we feel like that gap is huge.
I think by doing this, we createa mini vision, that's a stepping
stone towards what is meaningful tous right now in a way that aligns

(08:19):
with where our life is right now.
And I think the reason I say this isbecause being a mom for me has meant
really shifting my idea on what some ofthose things in my vision look like and
what my future self looks like as well.
So I want to give you anexample in my daily vision.
I was working on the podcast every day.
I was writing every day.
Now I know that is not achievablefor me with two kids under five.

(08:40):
I know that's in my daily vision.
And in the long run, I want to be doingthis full time, but I can't at the moment.
It's not possible.
So once a week is good.
Once every two weeks is great.
Even if I know that I am making thosesmall steps and working towards that, I
know that I'm getting to that person forexample, as my kids get older, my day will
look more like what I hope it would looklike because my life stage allows that

(09:04):
So I think that's an important thingto be mindful of that sometimes,
creating that one year vision again,it's almost like creating a mini
version that is getting there.
Okay.
So rounding up this episode, when itcomes to planning our year, setting our
habits, creating our values, Settingan idea on what our ideal day looks

(09:25):
like in a year from now gives us thatinterim aim that can help us get towards
where we want to go without consistentlyfeeling frustrated or demotivated.
Because instead of focusing on thegap, we're focusing on the step.
We're looking at What we can do rightnow to start living out that daily life.
what are the things that mightneed to be worked towards and
how can we work towards them?

(09:47):
I think that this helpsa long term vision.
To be inspiring, but that shortterm daily idea is what helps us
create sustainable ways to livethat out or to work towards it.
Because I think focusing on the life stagewhere we're at, when we're considering
where we want to be at the end of theyear versus where we're hoping to get.

(10:08):
It all merges together and we start tolook at what we can start to do, who
we can start to be, what we can startto have in a year that might still be
working towards that final goal or that.
10 year vision.
So developing that daily vision helpsus to also guide our immediate action.
So again, looking at what we can doright now and what we're working towards.
And then again, it's justabout maintaining that

(10:29):
consistency and alignment.
So for example, when I look at myhabits for the week and what I'm
doing, when I have my three days ofwork, I look at my habits, I look at
my values and I look at that dailyvision and I look at all three and I'm
like, okay, what is it looking like?
How is it merging all into one?
Am I staying aligned?
Am I working towardsthat end of year vision?

(10:50):
Am I working towards thethings I want to work towards?
Am I doing the things that I can do now?
Am I doing them?
Am I maintaining consistencyon that front as well?
And honestly, I've really enjoyedthis because I feel like it gives us
that sense of purpose and directionthat we look for, but also helps
us to create that sustainable andrealistic, sense of alignment too.

(11:11):
Because if we are working towardswhat we need to do now and what we
can do now for a longer term vision,we're still getting there, but we're
also allowing our life stage to comeinto that as well, come into play.
and I think the biggest experiencefor me has been, sometimes we wait to
do things rather than just adjustingthe way we can do them until we can

(11:32):
do them the way we would like to.
sometimes it might mean Not reading orjournaling or doing something we love
every day, but maybe it's doing itonce a week or once every two weeks.
Maybe it isn't seeing friends once a week,but maybe seeing friends once a month.
I think that even if we can stilldo something we give ourselves
that flexibility to create.

(11:52):
That end of year idea and thatdaily vision of what we can do right
now, what we can work towards, itjust gives us a sense of alignment
without being demotivated.
Because we can get caught up in this ideaof what we need to do, who we need to be
and what we want to have in 10 years time.
And we spend most of ourenergy focusing on that gap.

(12:13):
So we want to try and.
create a smaller focus towards that.
So I think that this is exactlywhat a daily vision can give us.
Think about who you want to be at the endof the year, what that person's doing,
being, having really visualizing thatfuture self that doesn't feel so far away.
That feels a little bit closer andthen thinking about how you can start

(12:34):
implementing that into your day.
what you're working towards and what youcan do right now Maybe there's something
that you can literally do tomorrow.
So I hope this episode helps.
This is the final episode on habits valuesI think this is an important one because
there's so much talk out there aboutsetting up our Vision and having idea
of who we want to be and this grand ideaand I think that this can be so powerful

(12:56):
but Bringing something a bit closer tohome, having those smaller steps and
breaking down that vision into having ayearly idea of what we want things to look
like can be really supportive as well.
as always take whatresonates leave what doesn't.
I hope you found this helpful.
Thank you so much for being here.
I will catch you in the next episode.