Day 6 Creating the Big Picture - part 1
- Lisa Minotti
- Dec 28, 2024
- 3 min read
These next two days are about crafting the big picture of your life—a vision for what truly matters. This is not just about setting goals for 2025 but understanding the overarching themes, priorities, and values that will guide your decisions over time of which 2025 is just the beginning.
We’ve probably all heard the time management analogy of the “Jar of Rocks”. Here’s a link to the story and some caveats. https://www.rapidstartleadership.com/rocks-in-a-jar/
Imagine the bigger picture of your life as a jar. The “big rocks” are the priorities that align with your core values, legacy, and purpose. The small pebbles and sand represent the day-to-day tasks and distractions that often crowd out what matters most. Over the next two days, we will reflect deeply to identify your big rocks.
What Do I Want?
Today, start by dreaming big—what does a meaningful, fulfilling life look like for you?I want you to invite the part of you that says you can’t do it, have it, or it’s not ok to want, invite it to take 5 on this, and let you dream without judgement. You are going to align these things with your values and we’ll “get real” later.
Reflective Questions:
What do I want to experience in this lifetime?
Think of relationships, love, adventure, spiritual connection, joy, and peace.
What do I want to achieve?
Consider career milestones, personal growth, creative pursuits, or making a difference.
What do I want to learn?
What knowledge or skills would enrich my life and expand my perspective?
What do I want to feel every day?
Think about emotions like fulfillment, excitement, gratitude, and calm.
Write freely, allowing yourself to dream without limits. This is about capturing what excites and inspires you.
Legacy – The Bigger Picture
It is important to look at the small steps in the context of the bigger picture. It would be a real shame to take all those steps climbing a mountain only to realize that when you reach the top, you had been climbing the wrong mountain the whole time. So in this section we'll look at the really big picture.
Visualization Exercise:
I invite you to first get grounded. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Consider doing 2 minutes of the reset exercise in Day 1, letting go of thoughts, focusing on physical sensations. Do this first to eliminate mental noise and engage the part of your brain that is creative, logical, knowing.
Close your eyes and picture your wiser, elder self at the end of your life. You are healthy of mind and body, sitting peacefully and reflecting on all you’ve done, loved, and created.
Here are some questions you could ask your wiser, elder self:
What is important?
What isn’t important?
What am I most proud of?
What moments or relationships brought me the greatest joy?
What will people remember me for?
What didn’t matter as much as I thought it would?
What regrets, if any, would I want to avoid?
Activity:
Write a letter from your future self to your present self, describing the life you lived and what made it so meaningful.
Create a vision board of images that represent what you want in life. Here’s an article on how to create one if you don’t know how. Neuropsychologist and Harvard lecturer Tara Swart talk about how this activates the part of our brain that looks out for opportunities. When we keep our dreams in front of us visually, and write our goals down we significantly increase the probability of achieving our goals.
Affirmation for Today:"I give myself permission to dream of the life I want, knowing that my values and vision will guide me toward fulfillment and purpose."
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