Why You Need to Know What You're Working Toward
Hey, hey friends! In last week’s post, we started a series where we are diving into the 5 keys to hustling sanely. If you missed that post, click here and go get yourself up to speed!
Today we are chatting about key 2 of hustling sanely: GET CLEAR ON YOUR VISION. This one, I feel like for a lot of people, is easier said than done. It SOUNDS pretty simple, right? Like know what you’re working toward? Cool, makes sense.
But real question: when was the last time that you actually paused and took some intentional time to really reflect on what kind of life you want to be living versus what kind of life you’re actually living? Do they match up? Are they aligned?
And let’s take it back a step further and talk about why it’s important to have a clear vision and then we’ll go more into HOW you can get clear on your vision, sound good?
So why? Why do you need to have clarity?
Reason 1 you need to have clarity:
Being clear on your vision - not only for a specific dream or goal but your vision for your life - is what empowers you to actually step into the life you want to be living.
If you don’t know what the heck you’re working toward, then how exactly do you plan on getting there? I mean really? I'm a tough love kinda girl, as you know, so I'm going to give it to you straight: you cannot accomplish something if you don't know what it is. Period. I picture it like this - let’s say you are going to get your hair done somewhere new. It’s in a part of town that you’ve never been before. Do you just jump in your car and start driving? NO! Because you’ll probably end up somewhere completely different than where you’re actually trying to go - like a chiropractor or something. What you do is pull up a map app on your phone, plug in the address, then head to the actual hair salon.
Knowing that you are trying to go to the hair salon allows you to actually get to the hair salon, you feel me? It’s the same concept with our lives - if you don’t know what kind of life you want to live then I can pretty much guarantee that you aren’t living it.
Reason 2 you need to have clarity:
Being clear on your vision actually lessens overwhelm because when you’re clear on your vision you are operating in purpose instead of wondering if what you’re doing matters or is making a difference.
If you don't have clarity on what you're working toward or the kind of life you want, you're going to be aimlessly wandering around instead of being rooted in your purpose. A big reason that people feel overwhelmed is because they lack clarity. Have you ever felt like you're running on a hamster wheel every day - checking things off your task list but not really moving anywhere? Like you are tired AF and you feel so burnt out at the end of the day yet you feel like you are 0% closer to your goals? It’s not supposed to be that way, you know. You were actually created to live in abundance. Stop being okay with just surviving and take the steps to start thriving, girl, cmon! Getting clear on your vision is one of the steps you can take!
Reason number 3 you need to have clarity:
Being clear on your vision keeps you from jumping ship on hard or mundane days.
I can vividly recall when I first started Hustle Sanely in September 2018 I was STOKED. It was new, it was fun! When I decided to leave grad school to pursue it full-time in January 2019 - also fun, new, exciting...yay! But by April, the newness had worn off a bit. If you’ve been around since the beginning of Hustle Sanely (first of all tysm) you might recall some growing pains when I started.
At first it was very clear that I was creating and selling planners. Then Hustle Sanely shifted and I stepped into a coaching role because that’s what was being requested. Then I started designing and selling t-shirts. Then it seemed cool to add in courses. By last summer I felt SO scatter brained. My dream job was slowly becoming this out of control pot full of a bunch of random stuff. I was SO unclear on my vision.
But here’s the thing - everything I was doing and creating...it was good. But good things aren’t always goal things, you know? I had to take some time, step back, and really ask myself what I wanted this brand and business to be. I actually ended up taking all of December off to really figure it out. I did a lot of dreaming with God and earlier this year, it became clear that my goal was to have a PRODUCTIVITY BRAND with a heavy emphasis on community (hey that’s you, Hustle Sanely Squad!)
Now everything that I create and put out into the world point backs to that. I still do a lot of the same stuff that I did before, but because I’m clear on my vision for my brand, I can make it all tie together, flow, and make sense. Which honestly is way less energetically draining. Clear vision breeds purpose and peaceful productivity.
Reason number 4 you need to have clarity:
Being clear on your vision is one of the best ways to overcome comparison.
One of my favorite quotes by one of my favorite authors goes like this:
“We won’t be distracted by comparison if we’re captivated with purpose.”
Bob Goff is who said that and if you don’t follow me over on Instagram, first of all WHY NOT, second of all you might not be familiar with the love I have for Bob’s work. I just love the content and message that he puts out into the world. I kind of want to be him when I grow up honestly. Okay back to what he said though - we won’t be distracted by comparison if we’re captivated with purpose...PREACH, BOB! This is gold honestly.
Think about this:
You have been dreaming up this business idea for months - you are planning to open an Etsy shop to share your hand-lettered doodles. You’ve been practicing your letting and you’re SO proud of how your designs are turning out. You spent a lot of time and energy picking out a name for your shop and creating a logo. You can’t help but burst into a big smile every time you see it. You are PROUD of the work that you are doing! You don’t really have any idea why you want to sell hand-lettered designs but it’s fun so you’re rolling with it.
You are scrolling Instagram and you see that someone who lives in your neighborhood just started her own hand lettering shop.“Ugh are you kidding me?” you think to yourself. You immediately pull up her designs and look at yours side by side. You start to criticize and critique everything about the designs that you were just so proud of a few minutes ago. You think, “Omg her shop name is so much cuter than mine!” After 20 minutes of this comparison game, you decide that you’re not even going to bother opening your shop any more.
COMPARISON JUST STOLE YOUR DREAM RIGHT OUT FROM UNDER YOUR NOSE, GIRL! And why is that? Because you didn’t have a clear vision.
Now rewind a little bit and let’s say that as you’re brainstorming your hand lettering shop, you write out a clear vision for your mission. Maybe it’s something like: I want to start an Etsy shop to sell my hand lettered designs because I want to pepper the walls of others’ with encouragement. I want to start an Etsy shop to sell my hand lettered designs because I love creating custom pieces for people knowing that my work is bringing light into their homes. I picture someone receiving some tough news but looking up and seeing “Hey, you’re doing great!” lettered by me hanging on their wall and it bringing a little bit of hope back into their day.
You see that your neighbor is also starting a shop to sell her hand lettered designs. “Oh my gosh how cool! Our styles are so different! Maybe I can ask her if she’d ever be interested in teaming up to create a piece together!”
Because you are now clear on your vision - aka you are rooted in purpose and you know WHY YOU are opening a hand lettering shop - you’re able to appreciate someone else’s dream instead of comparing yours against it.
Okay cool so you know WHY you need to get clear on your vision but how can you actually accomplish that?
In my 5-week Hustle Sanely Intensive Program, I take my students through some intense (like the good kind of intense, lol) exercises that help them get clear on their vision so they can start pursuing their dreams (sanely, of course).
There are 5 exercises and I’m going to briefly share them with you:
Writing a life mission statement
Visualizing what you want your life to be
Writing goals that reflect your vision.
Creating habits that point back to your goals.
Monthly reflections on progress
Doing these 5 things has changed my dang life - seriously. Before I decided to drop out of grad school, I did one of the visualization exercises that I take the program babes through, and it was one of the determining factors that helped me make the decision to leave school to pursue Hustle Sanely full-time.
I sat down, prayed a lot, did some hardcore dreaming with Jesus, and wrote out what my “ideal day” looks like. Maybe that sounds crazy to you but don’t knock it til you try it, girl. Anyway, I realized that my ideal day didn’t include working the job that I was in school for - speech-language pathology. My ideal day was filled with creating productivity and planning tools. I didn’t realize that until I took the time to sit down and really ask myself, “What kind of life do you want to live?”
And look now! Getting clear on my vision completely changed the course of my life! So, if you haven’t ever (or it’s been awhile), I encourage you to take some time and get real with yourself. What do you want your life to look like? Do your daily habits align with that? Get clear on your vision so you can live it out, girl!
If you enjoyed this blog post, make sure you tune into episode 031 of The Hustle Sanely Podcast:
