As the holidays are vastly approaching, we as business owners are in a constant season of wrapping up projects before the end of the year. But also, we’re trying to carve out some intentional time to think of how we can take on the year ahead. And today, I’m sharing my favorite vision casting process to step into a new season with confidence and clarity.

If vision casting is new to you, I would encourage you to think through the lense of possibility for you and your business. There is no right or wrong way to do this, friend. It’s simply an approach that you will take when you are trying to figure out the best way to hone the direction for your life or your business moving forward.

So what exactly is vision casting and how do I use it within my business and life?

MY VISION CASTING PROCESS

This process does not have to happen at the end of every year. It’s actually a series of questions that I revisit on a quarterly basis, especially if I find that my goals changed. Or, if I’m knocking goals off my list faster than I planned for!

With my vision casting process, it is a combination of creating the time in my calendar to make this happen, and then walking through the same sets of questions on a regular basis. This way I’m able to dive into the kinds of ideas and responses by myself that can influence the direction that I take in the season ahead.  

The first part is creating the right atmosphere for vision casting.

Vision casting is not necessarily a process that is going to happen in 20 minutes. Instead, it’s an introspective process that takes some time. I personally love to carve out a morning or afternoon where I turn off all notifications, close my inbox, and set the right atmosphere to sit down and reflect.

Often times, I will be sitting with a delicious beverage in hand, depending on the day (and time) it could be an almond latte or a glass of wine. Regardless, I want this time to be a good writing session.  

Whether this is on a quarterly basis or at the end of the year, I like to take a look at what worked and what didn’t this past season.

IDENTIFY THEMES IN YOUR VISION CASTING LIST

Once you have the right atmosphere set, it’s time to dive in.

In my vision casting journal, I create two columns: one for things that worked really well, and one for things that didn’t work well.

I write down examples of business triumphs, marketing techniques that converted, or networking connections that led to new opportunities. I also look at what didn’t work, whether that be marketing techniques that didn’t convert, or emotional and mental roadblocks I faced.

These sessions aren’t meant to be spaces where you quickly jot down practical examples of what you found successful in the seasons past. Instead, you should be thinking about things like:

What limiting beliefs are holding you back?

What was a proper use of your time?

What were successful connections or partnerships?

Once I’ve finished my two lists, I bust out my highlighters and go back and highlight any patterns I see. I pay attention to the connections between big successes or failures from the year. And I analyze what worked and what didn’t work.

Vision casting can identify areas for growth and things that maybe didn’t pan out the way that you thought it would. Once I identify those themes, I like to then turn my attention to the season to come.

MY VISION CASTING QUESTIONS

Whether I am planning for the next quarter or year ahead, I will write down where I want to go. I give myself the space to dream big, and I ask myself, if I could wave a magic wand and dream of the most amazing season ahead, what would that look like and what would that season feel like?

I focus on dreams for the future in an emotional way versus only focusing on tangible or practical goals because if I am focused on the kind of life or business that I really want in the season ahead I can then reverse-engineer the kinds of goals that will help me get to that space.

I again ask myself the question, if I could wave my magic wand and create the life and business that I love, what would that look like and what would that feel like?

From there, I ask myself, when I think of this dream life or this dream season that I’m creating, what kinds of actions or projects would I be doing that would bring joy?

Once I’m able to honestly answer these questions, I am able to actionably start to identify the things that I need to do to start living the life of my dreams.

JOURNAL WITH NO JUDGEMENT

The key here when you are walking through these questions is to not judge your own answers.  This is not information that you are being graded on or something that you have to share on social media for all your peers—this is purely for your benefit.  

When diving into vision casting, we must dive into this free writing with a clear head and the knowledge that there is no right or wrong answer.

This is an opportunity to write what is on your heart. No matter how unrealistic it may sound, I always put my vision down on paper because I have found I can make some of the most seemingly outlandish ideas or goals happen simply because I chose to write it down and dream big.

When you are taking time to think about the future, it’s important to give yourself the space to think about how you want to feel and how you want your life to look. Then ask yourself, what kind of things could I be doing that would bring me joy?

As I think about what the season ahead looks like, I then focus on walking it out a little bit more. I take a moment to say, alright, this is what I want for the next three years but how does that factor into my big picture goals?

I ask myself again: If I were waving my magic wand, thinking about what life and business could look like in three years from now, what would that look and feel like?

Then I walk through these questions again for five years and 10 years.

What this helps me do is reinforce on a consistent basis the big picture goals that I consistently write down every single time. And it also highlights how my goals have changed.   

CREATE A TANGIBLE LIST OF WHAT YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE

In order to realistically vision cast for the immediate future, you want to be in touch with how you can vision cast for the years and decades ahead.

After I sit down and write all of these fun responses to what I think life and business could look like in the years ahead. I then go through and highlight the more actionable goals that I can take.

With those highlights, I create a tangible list of realistic goals that I want to achieve based on what I have in my journal.

Most of the time, I am finding these goals to touch on marketing, financing, admin tasks, or personal education. These writing prompts are really telling at helping you identify what you really want, but also shows you what it is that you can focus your sights on in the immediate future.

BIG PICTURE OVERVIEW FOLLOWED WITH ACTIONABLE STEPS

From there, I revisit the things I have written down and highlight overarching themes and concepts I want more of in the seasons ahead. It’s really important you take a look at what you have written down so you can be aware of what you want more of in the New Year.

This is a big picture overview on how I create vision for my own businesses, and how I think about what I want for my life and my work.

This process allows me to be aware of what I need to be creating for myself and for my team in the upcoming seasons in order to get to where I dream of.

Once I’m able to sit down and do the big picture dreaming and vision casting, I can identify the next-step actionable goals.

With those goals in mind, I sit down with my own marketing strategist and team and we break those goals down into robust steps that outline exactly what order things need to happen for us to achieve our goals.

Friend, let me just say I don’t want you to feel like you have to have a team on your side in order to take those big picture goals and break them down further.

This can be a great thing to walk through with your business bestie, someone from your local Tuesday’s group, or with a business coach and mentor. I’ve found it works best when you have someone you can take your big, beautiful ideas to and break them into concrete steps that you can implement throughout the weeks and the months ahead.

Let’s see this in action.

Let’s say that I sit down and am going through this vision casting process for the quarter ahead. An overarching theme I may see is to launch a podcast (which really was on my vision casting list a few years ago!). From there, I know I need to do a few housekeeping items. I need to look into some backend things like figuring out how to start a podcast, how to record each episode, and how to distribute the episodes across different channels. These are great action steps to talk through with a friend or business mentor to come up with any other steps I might be missing and to create next actionable steps to move forward on.

HOW VISION CASTING CAN BRING CLARITY IN YOUR BUSINESS

When you can create time in your schedule to really identify the big wins and honest failures from the prior quarter or year, then you are able to identify the overarching goals you want to chase after and recognize what you want more of in the season ahead.

That alone will help you move forward in life and business with a huge amount of clarity and confidence.

Vision casting has been such a powerful process that has allowed me to reflect on my businesses and dream about where I want to take them. It allows me to free up the space in my schedule to bring reignited passion to work ON my business, and not just IN it!

It’s been a game changer and I’m so excited to share it with you.

If this vision casting process sounds like something you are ready to implement in your own life and business, I would love to walk alongside you on this journey.

Inside my 6-month group coaching program, the Heartfelt Brand Society, we dive into this exact vision casting process with a group of tenacious entrepreneurs cheering you along the way. Not only are you able to bounce your ideas and visions off of others, but you also have a community holding you accountable and helping you create a plan to implement your vision through purposeful and actionable next steps.

If this sounds like something you are ready to dive into I would love to chat with you. Doors are currently closed, but pop your name below and be the first to know when doors open.

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