Why you must have a vision for your life

Have you ever gotten a bad haircut? Maybe the person cutting your hair wasn't the mot skilled stylist but I'd say that there's a high chance that you didn't communicate what you wanted sufficiently.

I've been guilty of this a few times. Maybe after seeing a stylist for a while I'll assume he or she remembers what I like and don't like and I'll say something along the lines of, "Just like last time!" assuming they'll remember the length or the way layers fell or the way I've been parting my hair lately. Then I'm surprised when the cut or color isn't exactly the way I envisioned it. Well of course it's not: I didn't articulated my vision to my stylist, or maybe I wasn't fully clear on the vision myself.

The same thing applies to your career and life overall: you must figure out what you want and clearly express it (first to yourself) before you can expect it to materialize.

Oprah approved coach and motivational speaker Tony Gaskins has famously said, "Build your own dreams or someone will hire you to build theirs." Not everyone has the itch to be an entrepreneur (which is okay!) but this concept still applies. If you don't have a vision for your own life and career chances are high that you will end up simply fitting into someone else's.

While having a vision for a hair style is far from having a vision for your life it requires a similar sequence of events and is based around a similar concept: know what you want, communicate that, and then become it.

It sounds simple but it can be extremely hard. How many twenty-, thirty-, forty-somethings, and beyond have fallen into a career path simply after accepting the first job they were offered out of college? 

I've asked many friends and colleagues what got them into their chosen line of work and a startling number say their company, or whatever company they started at, simply "was hiring." Now sometimes it works out; some companies hire a lot from within and are open to role and organizational changes. I was lucky enough to be at a company like that for four years. But not everyone is like that and even the best ones won't plot out your career for you.

The same way it's common for high school students to be encouraged to think through what they want in a college if they are planning on higher education we should all spend time thinking through what we want out of our careers and lives overall.

It's hard, won't happen overnight, and it can sometimes teeter into existential-territory, but it's important and worth it.

So spend some time thinking through your own wants, goals, and needs. Don't just let your life happen to you. Develop a vision for your life or you'll end up fitting into someone else's.