Since discovering David Allen’s GTD framework and the planning horizons, I’ve introduced a lot of intentionality to my work and attention. Defining tasks, projects, and areas of accountability was straightforward. And with enough Personal Retrospective and journaling, I eventually identified my core values and (much later) my core pillars.
But for the longest time, defining a long-term vision remained my white whale. The “where do you see yourself in 10-20 years?” question felt impossible to answer. One summer I read Tim Ferriss’s The 4-Hour Workweek (a bit outdated, but still a great read) and proceeded to drive myself nuts trying to get past the “Define” step in his “DEAL” framework.
Then, at the end of 2024, a connection on LinkedIn wished me a happy birthday and asked if I ever found answers to the questions we had discussed years ago. I admitted I felt good about where I was, but had largely given up on defining a vision. He replied with this:
“Your struggle with vision is real, and it’s worth rekindling your desire to develop one. Vision is the thought or dream you work to bring to life. Without it, you live in a world shaped by others’ visions.”
That gave me another nudge.
But this time, I reached for my AI as a Thought Organizer playbook. I did the usual: provided background context, did a raw brain dump of everything in my head on the subject, and then for good measure gave it a prompt: “Before doing any more work, what questions should I think through as I do this vision-setting exercise?” I answered its questions and dumped the responses right back into the same thread.
With the AI’s help, after years of struggle, I finally built a vision for myself. It isn’t just a corporate-style mission statement; it gives me a baseline I can review at least once a year to answer:
- Is this still where I see myself? Does this excite or inspire me?
- If no, what changed?
- If yes, what am I doing right now that is helping or hindering me from achieving this?