How to utilize your vision
How to use your vision to identify opportunities for sustainable change and to form lasting habits.
What is Vision?
At Constant Health we think of vision as your why; as in “why do you want to make this change right now?”. Your goals are where you want to go, habit formation is how you are going to get there, and your vision is the reason why you want to go there in the first place. It may be helpful to consider how these three concepts are linked: habits are what we want to create to reach our goals, while vision is why we set our goals in the first place!
Everyone has a different reason for starting our program. Maybe you want to hit the dance floor at a family wedding, or take on a new adventure, or hike Mount Kilimanjaro! Understanding how to identify and calibrate your vision can be the difference between getting that extra bit of motivation when you need it most and letting things slide because your vision isn’t properly aligned with your values.
Your vision serves to utilize the emotional component of the behaviour change process by enhancing motivation and reminding you of what is most important to you. Using your vision as a focal point helps to ensure that every component of your journey is aligned with your “why”.
Vision versus goals:
Sally loves to travel. Upon graduation from university, she backpacked extensively through Europe. Every year Sally and her husband would plan a trip with a focus on exploration and new adventures. Over the years Sally’s life got increasingly busy as she divided her focus between her family and work. Last year Sally developed type 2 diabetes.
Sally’s youngest child is now heading off to university and Sally and her husband would love to resume their travels. Unfortunately, Sally recently discovered that her ability to get travel insurance has become much more difficult as a result of her diabetes.
Which vision do you think would be more motivational for Sally?
Sally Vision a): To keep my blood sugar within a normal range
Sally Vision b): To go hiking in Costa Rica
The purpose of your vision is to remind you why you are making changes. To push you when things require a little bit more effort. The power of your vision comes from tying it to your emotions and values; this usually requires a little bit of practice, but we promise it will get easier over time.
How can you use vision to create new behaviors?
From the example above Sally could use her vision in several ways:
- To identify what changes may be most helpful for her to focus on: Perhaps increasing daily steps would align with this vision more than going to the pool each week.
- To increase motivation and overcome challenges: When feeling tired or pressed for time, it is tempting to skip packing lunch for the office as it is easier to go to the drive through and pick something up. In this example Sally might place an image of Costa Rica on her fridge; having a visual reminder of her vision in the kitchen could boost her motivation and make packing lunch feel more important and worthwhile.
This 3 minute video is a great example of exactly how we can use vision and what a powerful tool it can be!
The man's goal is strength, his habits are the workouts he builds into the routine, and his vision becomes apparent at the end of the video!
Your vision experiment:
Once you have identified your vision, take some time to think about how you would like to use it. The great news is there is no wrong way to do this!
Imagery can be such a powerful tool to tap into the motivation a vision can provide. We find this first experiment can be hugely impactful both over the next week and in months to come.
Experiment: Find an image that captures your vision and load it in the app.
Hypothesis: Having a visual reminder helps to connect future experiments and data collection with my "why" every time I open the app.
If at any point you want to revisit vision or explore this topic in more detail please let your Constant Health Dietitian know.