Vision is a way to answer your own “why” of life. It gives you the reason for your actions, choices, hopes, and desires. A vision fills your daily activities with meaning and purpose. Life is full of tunnels that lead nowhere. Challenges and distractions occupy our lives so it becomes difficult to focus on what’s most important in life, fulfilling our dreams. This is why having a vision is so important to help you focus on your life’s mission enough to achieve significance in life.

Here’s a look at a few reasons why having a vision is so vital to success and joy:

1. Overcome roadblocks and hurdles: Challenges are inevitable. They are a vital part of life, without which there will be no growth. When you run into a wall or a hurdle, you need to know which way to go and what next to do. Vision provides you with a map to follow and something ahead to look forward to and work towards. It gives you a reason to keep going, even when you go through tough times. It keeps you stable.

2. Gives direction to your goals: Vision gives purpose to your goal-setting activities. Without an end goal or destination in mind, you won’t have a clear or defined path. Vision provides this path as you set concrete and smart goals. Many people set goals that do not add up to anything and so struggle with them. They set goals on other people’s expectations or examples. Vision helps you know if your goals are valid and helps you know the things that are most important to you and your future, so you can set goals that grow you rather than goals that frustrate and distract you.

3. Set expectations: Vision helps you measure progress. It helps you measure how well and how fast you are moving because it gives you your yardstick of what success is. Setting goals comes along with defining measurements of success. How do you know when you’ve reached your goal if you don’t have a way of defining what success is to you? A vision helps to set expectations appropriately based on where you really want to go.

4. Adds Focus: Having a vision ensures that your life can remain focused. When you are faced with a decision or a distraction, you can ask yourself if it will move you towards attaining your vision or not. This can offer you the means to move forward with intention and alignment.

5. Delivers means and purpose: A vision is a way to answer your own “why” of life. It gives you the reason for all your life’s activities. It gives you direction and momentum, giving your life a deep sense of purpose. You wake up every day knowing you were made for more and knowing that you are on track going somewhere.

You can read further in my book Live Your Dreams.