How to Create a Vision for the Rest of 2020

How to Create a Vision for the Rest of 2020

The year 2020 isn’t even half-way over at the time I’m writing this.

And yet, there is a clear “before and after” distinction that marked this year, quite early on.

The “before” being pre-March and the “after,” March and beyond.

A distinction that has defined the lives of many.

Pre-Covid. Post-Covid.

I remember February 2020…it seems another lifetime ago, but it was just a few short months back.

The year stretched out ahead held so much promise for me.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I had a great career opportunity come up prior to the COVID-19 virus hitting the United States.

It was an opportunity I’d waited months to get.

When the opportunity finally arose after months of waiting, I hadn’t been so excited about anything in what felt like forever.

I thought finally, maybe things were falling into place for me.

…but the timing turned out to be ill-fated.

As you can guess (or may already know), the opportunity didn’t pan out. A few short weeks later, Covid happened and rocked everything we knew about normal life.

Truth be told, it’s possible the opportunity wouldn’t have worked out, even if the virus didn’t happen.

I’ll never know.

That’s okay, though.

One lesson reinforced in my life during this unprecedented time is when one door closes, another one is opening somewhere.

Even if you don’t see the new door opening as you watch the other door close.

It was hard to accept this opportunity wasn’t meant to be for me. I wasted too much time “stuck” during the month of March, just feeling like nothing ever works out.

If you’re where I was-hanging on to what was instead of focusing on what’s next-it’s time to start thinking about your future.

Many of us are feeling a little lost and directionless right now.

I’ve been there, and I got you.

It’s time to recalibrate.

There’s never been a better time to focus on your future like today.

Here’s how to create a vision for the rest of your 2020.

Let go of what was.

It’s easier said than done, but the first step in moving forward with a new vision is to let go of what was.

Maybe you lost your job or had to take a pay cut. Or worse.

I lost out on an opportunity I’d had my heart set on for so long. It was painful to let go of that.

Back at square one with a blank page, I didn’t know how to move forward.

But I knew I had to let go of the idea of that opportunity before I could.

Whatever you’ve lost during this time, I want you to know it’s ok to let go and move forward.

I know something even better is waiting for you on the other side of this.

But it all depends on you. You have what it takes, you just need to get your mindset in the right place first.

Be intentional about the life you want.

If you’ve ever longed for a fresh start, now’s your chance.

There’s never been a better day like today to live the life you always wanted.

Imagine what your ideal life looks like:

Do you work from home or in an office?

What do you do for a living-do you enjoy it?

Are you well-traveled?

Where do you want to live?

Do you have a full calendar of social obligations or do you spend most of your time being a homebody?

If you need help imagining your ideal future, I really love Imagine Big by Terri Savelle Foy.

I read this book two years ago when I was struggling to figure out what I wanted for my life after my former company closed the office I worked at and laid off over 500 employees, including me.

In letting go of what was lost, I began to re-embrace the plan I’ve had for my life since I was laid off a few years ago: I want to work from home and I want to write.

Whatever your dream is for your life, it’s not too late to pursue it.

Maybe you lost your job. But, did you love your job? Did it serve you well?

It provided a paycheck, but did it make your heart happy?

I think (or hope, anyway) that many of us will end up better off post-Covid than pre-Covid, even if it may not seem that way right now.

This becomes possible when we evaluate our life and what matters to us, and intentionally pursue the life we want.

Which leads me to my next point…

Let go of what doesn’t serve your purpose.

In order to live the life we want, we have to let go of everything that doesn’t serve our purpose.

The quarantine cancelled out nearly all obligations outside the walls of our homes.

Your service was no longer needed for the events you volunteer for since they’d all been cancelled.

If you were previously overcommitted prior to the pandemic and felt a reprieve from certain commitments during the quarantine, that’s your sign to not continue on with those commitments in the future.

The beauty of this quarantine season is it has allowed us the clarity to see what does and does not matter or serve us.

Depending on where you live, you may or may not still be under stay-at-home orders.

But I encourage you to not pick up where you left off with anything that doesn’t serve your purpose.

I decided to cut back on some of the volunteering I was doing because it interfered with my writing time.

As I mentioned above, this season has reminded me what gives me purpose is to work from home and write.

Know your purpose and what fuels your purpose, and let the rest go.

Write your vision for the remainder of 2020

You may have written a vision and set goals for 2020 when the year began.

Depending on your circumstances, your original vision for 2020 might not line up with your current reality.

Grab a pen and paper and write out your ideal vision for the remainder of 2020.

What does your highest self envision for the remainder of the year?

Write it down.

Set goals. If you need help with this, check out my article How to Set Goals and Achieve Them.

Then, start taking action toward those goals.

What is the one goal you can work on today?

Pick one goal to work on.

It doesn’t even have to be a lofty goal.

Just a goal.

Work toward progress on this goal every day.

Here’s an example: For the last few years, I’ve wanted to get to a place where I walked/jogged/ran 10,000 steps a day. Because I wasn’t intentional about this, it never happened.

10,000 steps just seemed like a lot. But one day, I noticed I’d tracked over 10,000 steps and realized how easy it actually was to get there.

So, this past month, I became intentional about reaching 10,000 steps a day.

I averaged a little over 10,000 steps for the month of May.

There were only four days I didn’t reach 10,000 steps, and three of those days I wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t exercise. But because I’d hit 10,000+ steps all the other days of the month, I averaged over 10,000 steps for the month.

Mission accomplished.

It all started with one day and intentionality on my part.

There were days early in the month where it was cold and rainy, but I did it anyway.

And I can’t wait to do it again for the month of June.