Vision, Goals and Self Awareness

Vision - The ability to think or plan the future with imagination or wisdom. 

Goals - The object of a person's ambition or effort. An aim or a desired result.

Simply put, a vision is a long term and a permanent goal and a goal is a short term vision that aims to help a person achieve the vision for one's life. It is extremely important that both should be in alignment with each other.

How to achieve this?

The first step is 'Self Awareness'

Self Awareness - Conscious knowledge of one's abilities, character and feelings.

But why self awareness? It is simple, any vision or goal that is set without self awareness is very likely to go wrong and lead to frustration, failure and wasted time.

Self awareness in this context simply means knowing what will keep one happy, what one can do and how one is inclined. It can be simply summed up in one question - What do I want in life? Once this question is answered, it can lead to a more realistic vision setting. Then goals can be set to move towards this vision.

It is basically a three step process of knowing oneself, setting a vision for life and then setting goals to move towards that vision. A vast majority of us do not do this nor do we encourage our children to go through this process. The fact is this is THE most important education that anyone must get in childhood for a successful and a fulfilled life.

You must be still wondering, why self awareness? What role does self awareness have in goal / vision setting? While many people know the relation between vision and goals, not many are aware of the importance of self awareness in this process. Self awareness does not play any direct role in setting a particular vision or a goal but definitely helps in selecting a realistic vision and goals for one's life. When a person is fully aware of his own capabilities and potential he will set a realistic goal that has a better chance of getting fulfilled rather than copying someone else's goal that looks impressive.

Also, assuming that HAPPINESS is what one ultimately wants in life self awareness will also tell a person what will keep him / her happy. A vision / goal set in alignment with such an awareness is likely to be pursued with more dedication because it will ultimately lead to happiness.

Ideally this process should be completed before the end of student life so that a more realistic, achievable and satisfying career path can be charted out for one to follow. Even doing this at the very early stages of one's professional life will give good results. But it should be done at the earliest. Anyone who has faced frustration in life because of a wrongly selected profession will realize that a process starting with a complete awareness of self would have resulted in a more satisfied life. 'Self Awareness' is the missing link in the whole process of planning one's life and this has to change.

There are several tools and techniques for self awareness such as aptitude testing, psychological testing, DMIT etc. One can choose a technique as per one's liking or multiple tests to get a clearer picture of one's self. In addition teenagers should be encouraged to introspect on what makes them happy and what appeals to them the most.

Conclusion

'Self Awareness' has been the missing link in the whole process of planning the future or selecting a feasible career path for students. It should ideally be a part of the curricula at schools but till that happens, we can at least start on our own. It is an important first step towards a satisfied and a fulfilled life.