The Daily Visioning Journal
August 22, 2023
Note From Rochelle
Dear writers,
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Today’s tip is an excerpt from my book, Level Up. It will help you imagine your best possible future a day at a time.
Happy writing,
Rochelle, the Write Now! Coach
The Daily Visioning Journal
Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.
– Jonathan Swift
Today’s quest is much like last week’s, when you envisioned your epic wins. But this quest is shorter and easier—and super effective. Each day, we record a few lines about what we’d be doing that day if we were living our ideal life. The practice helps us vision our future in the tiniest bits possible and then reflect on what we notice about our visions. For readers who have already envisioned their epic wins, this quest will help you focus every day on the life you hope to live.
In this quest, each morning you will write your vision in a journal as if you were living your best possible life. After a few weeks, review the journal and consider what kinds of changes you might want to make to your life. Keeping a Daily Visioning Journal about what you wish your day looked like will help you shape your days in small but significant ways.
The Quest
Choose a small journal or notebook, about the size of an index card. (You could also use a stack of index cards!) Set aside 5 minutes each morning to do this quest.
Step One: Write
For the next week or two, write one page as if you were living your ideal life. Consider:
- If you were living your ideal life, what would you be thinking, writing, and doing?
- Who would you connect with?
- Where would you live?
- How would you spend your days?
Write in the present tense. Use sensory details.
Step Two: Review
After a few weeks of keeping the Daily Visioning Journal, review your journal entries. As you read, pay attention to three things:
- Entries that energize you
- Negative thoughts and feelings that surface when you read entries
- Themes that emerge
Step Three: Reflect
- When you feel that surge of energy, that’s a sign that what you’re reading engages you at a deep level. Consider how you can incorporate more of that activity in your daily life. For example, if you feel energized by the idea of spending an entire day writing, then figure out how you can do that even once a month.
- Recurring dreams and plans can also be signs that you want to do something. Think about what goal you might set to help you achieve your dreams. When you have a goal or even an idea of what you might do next, consider the smallest possible step you can take toward your goal and then try it.
- Entries may also trigger negative feelings or thoughts. For example, you might have written about attending a writing conference and sitting with your new friend, a famous author that you’ve always admired, and the first thought that pops into your head is, THAT could never happen. Change your negative thought into either a question or a positive statement. Instead of, That could never happen, try: How could that happen? What would be the first step? or I can imagine how fun it will be to meet my favorite author.
Game Play Tips
- Write about a variety of aspects of your life, including professional, personal, physical, spiritual, and more.
- If writing in your Daily Visioning Journal every morning doesn’t work, try writing each evening. Write as if you’ve just spent the day doing exactly what you wish or anticipating what you plan to do the next day. It may also be helpful to do this as a gratitude journal exercise: I’m grateful that I’ve been able to finish my fourth painting this year.
For the Win
The Daily Visioning Journal offers you the practice of writing about how you would be living each day if you were living your ideal life. It keeps your vision real, tangible, and close to you. In time, visioning will turn to practicing—and you’ll be doing more of what matters to you each day.
