Who is feeling very distracted lately? You? I know, me too - really distracted.

Just now, for example…I’m walking through my kitchen to turn off the hose that is watering my too-dry vegetable garden. ..(The peas didn’t make it.) and I notice my cat in the sink, which means she wants water, so I turn that faucet on (just a dribble is how she likes it); then I see my phone light up, and it’s a text from a friend asking a question…I text her back (No, I can’t on that day, what about Friday?)

I then wait for her response. When I’m done with that, I ask myself the “Why am I here?” question. Why did I stop writing and go into the kitchen? Who knows? So, I turn around and go back into my office and sit down to write (this blog!). I look out into the backyard and remember…oh, I have to shut off the hose!

Distractions Are Common 

There you have it - distracted - and that’s just one tiny example.

With life like this, how can we possibly achieve our big goals - the Leaps we talk about in the Heroine’s Journey? We’re always being drawn away into the minutiae of life. We’re down here in the weeds when we are needed at a much higher level. You, my friend, have big things to accomplish!

I have a tool for you that will be helpful, especially during this time of major distraction. I call it Intuitive Visioning. - a fancy name for a process that simply enlists the help of your intuition to contribute ideas and then organizes the results into a vision. And even better - aids in the implementation of that vision.

I’ve found it to be one of the most effective tools I’ve used with people. I want it to be available and used! I share about it on YouTube - and it’s now in my free course.

It’s easy to sign up on my website under the School Tab and then check out Module 2, Lessons 4 and 5 - you’ll have detailed instructions on how to do this for yourself. (And I’ve listed other places at the end of the blog.)

Where Did Intuitive Visioning Come From?  

This very personal exercise, the Intuitive Visioning process, came from my business experience. For many years, I’ve facilitated strategic planning retreats and workshops for companies, non-profit groups, and other organizations.

I watch what happens when groups of people take time out from their everyday business to think about the future. When they agree on a common vision for their organizations, when they all see and affirm the same picture of the future, they seem to draw it to them, usually more quickly than they expect.

I tell successful groups that their planned changes work because their respective energies are pulling together in the same direction. Unfortunately, I watch some groups get clear on what they want only to park their vision and accompanying goals on the shelf, swiftly getting pulled back into life just as it was before their retreat. They remain reactive, responding to whatever gets thrown their way and continuing to “put out fires.”

I also watch organizations maintain their retreat focus by continually checking on their “progress to the plan” or, as I call it, “watering it.” They are the successful ones, the ones who accomplish what they say they are going to do.   I’ve observed what worked and what didn’t at every step in the planning process.

The strategic planning process yields:  

• A focus that is a clear, shared vision of what the group wants. It needs to be a common, agreed-to vision so that everyone in the group moves in the same direction.  

• A plan for implementing the group’s vision. Otherwise, the habitual routines of business (what I call the “pull of gravity”) will quickly draw members back into things the way they’ve always been.  

• Finally, group members must believe they can accomplish their vision. They need to quiet the naysaying inner critic who’s forever ready to explain why things won’t work and how nothing ever really changes.

In the late ’90s, I had a thought: Why can’t individuals go through this same process? Why can’t individuals take the time to consider where they want to go over the next three years? Just as organizations can become less reactive and more intentional, so can a person.

People also need a vision, a plan, and the belief they can do it. We often plan by making a grocery list before shopping to ensure that we get the items we need and want. We plan for a summer vacation by blocking out days on our calendars ahead of time to ensure that we actually go.

We can do the same with our one and far too short life. (So much more important than groceries and going to the beach.) You can take the time to think about what you want and how you want your life to be. You don’t have to just accept whatever comes at you, forever reacting and seldom acting – putting out fires.

What works for business executives can work for you, too, so that what you want out of life doesn’t pass you by. We also can take a time-out every now and then to assess our lives, figure out what we want to attract into it, and create a plan to make it happen. 

Write Your Life Out  

In college, I read an advertisement in the New York Times Magazine for a pricey fountain pen. The tagline read, “How do you want to write your life, in poetry or in prose?” That phrase “write your life” got me thinking about how much ability we have to design our lives and how I wanted to “write” mine.

That’s when I first considered that there might be guidelines to help us create better futures, a way to write your life. If so, I wanted very much to know what they were.   I began to share the ideas that I had learned from being a strategic planning facilitator for businesses and organizations with the women in my women’s empowerment workshops.

Back then, I called it personal strategic planning because individuals did the process for themselves. I’ve since renamed it Intuitive Visioning because the great difference between those business groups doing it and the women I’ve facilitated through the process is the former groups answered the “presenting question” - where they wanted to be in three years, using their logical minds (perfectly fine for a business!) and the women are guided to answer with their intuition.

I realized the great benefit to women of inviting their intuitive knowing to weigh in because their intuition is just so wise.   This process is about realizing that we have a choice, that we can be proactive about what we want and draw it to us. We can take the time to chart out what we want, vividly picture it in our mind’s eye and get into the feeling place of the desired result.

There’s power to our intentions, but the world can and will distract us from them. Now more than ever! Intuitive Visioning will help you get clear on what you want, focus on it, and bring it to you.

Learn More About The Intuitive Visioning Process

• Read Chapter 8, “You Own the Perfect Compass” in my book, You Are a Heroine: A Retelling of the Hero’s Journey.

• Join me for a one-on-one retreat where I help you set the stage to create your Intuitive Vision and walk you through the process personally - including a follow-up down the road.

• It’s a lot of fun to gather some of your friends together and we’ll do the process as a group. Contact me for group rates.