Building a 20/20 Vision for Your Music Studio in 2020
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about building visions for 2020 as the new year approaches. What do I want to see in my studio? In my coaching business? In my personal life? My home life? So many things to consider.
You too, huh? I see you. That’s why I’m writing this post.
I hope you’ll find it helpful.
A couple of the goals I’m currently mulling over are pretty hefty and will take a lengthy period of time. And while I know they’ll be worth it in the long-run, sometimes thinking about them can get me a bit bogged down.
One of the biggest projects my husband and I have for 2020 will be digging into a renovation for the main house on the farm. Cleaning out a house that’s been through three Campbell generations since the 1940s is… well, let’s just call it a “project.” (We have other terms that we sometimes call this project, but I’d like to keep this blog mostly PG.)
I’m grateful for the space that it will become… but wow, is it going to take a lot of planning and work to get there.
I can safely say: This project has me seriously overwhelmed. And sometimes that overwhelm has me sitting in inaction.
When I sat down the other day to consider the next steps for that “big house project,” a thought struck me: What if instead of trying to create a vision for 2020… I started building a 20/20 vision.
Building a 20/20 Vision
Welcome to deep thoughts by girls-with-glasses.
This idea hit me when I was pulling books out of the cabinets — some of which most likely hadn’t seen sunlight in 40 years. At first the project was exciting and interesting. Then as the hours wore on and the newness wore off, the task became monotonous and rather dusty. Every cabinet we opened revealed another tetris-style challenge to unpack and sort through.
It was quite difficult to see how this task fed would lead to success. Because in that moment, the end goal of what that room will look like in 2 or 3 years seemed totally hazy to me.
I tried closing my eyes and visualizing it in my head…
I thought about what it would be like to sit in the front window while reading a book and watching the fall leaves. I thought about possible family gatherings. I recalled the sketches I did for a friend as I attempted to explain why there was a piano built into the wall of what would become our master bedroom. (Story for another time, my friend.)
As I sat there with those thoughts, I felt a renewed sense of purpose in what I was doing.
It was like putting on a pair of glasses that helped me bring things into focus: it gave me 20/20 vision of my goal. The end result wasn’t hazy anymore.
When we set big goals, they can feel so far away . It’s easy to interpret that goal as beyond our reach and therefore simply unattainable. It’s like looking at something 100 feet away without wearing your glasses. (And if you’ve never done that before… ask a near-sighted friend to describe it.) Basically that goal looks like a big-ole fuzzy blob. And blobs, generally speaking, are not very appealing.
20/20 vision is a term used to express normal visual acuity (the clarity or sharpness of vision) measured at a distance of 20 feet. If you have 20/20 vision, you can see clearly at 20 feet what should normally be seen at that distance.
And there it was: In order to keep moving, I needed to consistently revisit that 20/20 vision of my goal. When I was feeling bogged down, what if instead of looking at everything that had to be done, I could look past the piles of clutter, the peeling wallpaper, and the list of things that need to be ripped out and replaced… and actually give myself permission to see the final result?
I needed to “switch out my lenses,” so to speak.
Side note: I’d like to think that my 20/20 visioning lenses are similar to what Luna Lovegood wears so that she can see wrackspurts in the world of Harry Potter. (What would yours look like?)
Developing that 20/20 Vision
Big goals require different lenses. That complete studio schedule overhaul — establishing a new health and wellness routine — learning to sing or play in a genre that’s totally new to you — starting to plan for retirement when you’re in your mid-40s. These are huge undertakings, and frequently when we try to get big projects started we’ll get discouraged / distracted / bored and leave them unfinished. Or we’ll only think about them, and not actually take any actions. I’ve done that more times than I can count.
Developing a long term-vision often involves what I like to call “waving the magic wand.” (Yeah, we’re just full of magical references here.)
What would it look like if you could just zap yourself 5 years into the future and see all of the things that you wanted to come true…
This exercise can often be very difficult the first time you attempt it. You might feel lots of “yeah, but’s” and “that can’t happen” thoughts creeping up, and those can be difficult to ignore. However, when we wave that magic wand, it’s imperative that we release our “yeah, but’s”. After all… we’re not just changing one thing. Big goals often have ripple effects, and “yeah, but’s” don’t take into account how different things can be when we make courageous changes in our lives.
We can’t build a vision if we argue our own limitations.
Waving that wand can be quite difficult if “yeah, but’s” and self-limitations are our go-to response. But don’t worry. That’s why I love the magic wand exercise: that wand holds magical abilities that rid the wielder from all those dream squashing responses.
When you wave that wand, you’re giving yourself permission to consider what life would feel like if you did the big-scary-thing. And that’s kind of cool. Try it for yourself… maybe one of these goals will resonate. If not, write down your own on a piece of paper and allow yourself to consider the possibilities.
What would that ideal student schedule look like in your work life? Home life? Personal life?
What would life be like after leaning into your new health routine for a full year?
What would building a retirement fund do for you and your spouse when you’re 68?
What will that master bedroom look with a piano built into the wall? (I promise I’ll explain this one day.)
What did it feel like to consider those ideas for a moment? To allow yourself to put on those wrackspurt glasses and take a peek at what life might be like when that goal was attained? Was the vision clear? Hazy? Did you enjoy what you saw? And most importantly: were you able to look beyond the “yeah, but’s” and self limitation to see the possibilities?
A 20/20 Vision Exercise
A few weeks ago I hosted a chat about creating visions in our lives: honing in on long-term goals AND short-term goals without losing sight of how they feed into one another.
I hope you enjoy this mindset and planning exercise and the little worksheet to help you along the way. Yep! There’s a PDF download that comes with this exercise… you can grab it here from my #CoachSaraBot on Facebook messenger.
Today’s Show Notes:
- Download the PDF.
- Choose a target area and write down observations about what’s happened in this area in the past. Have you taken action here? Are you stuck in inaction? Write these observations with non-judgement.
- Write down a long-term vision for change in this area of your life. Describe what you want to see… and don’t forget to wave the magic wand!
- Answer this question: why is this goal important? Get specific about how this goal will change things.
- Figure out a few of the big steps that will need to happen. This doesn’t have to be really detailed yet. Just try to hit on the major items that need to be in place.
- Big goals require assistance and accountability. Identify the people who you see being able to help you along your journey.
If you found this visioning exercise helpful, I’d love to know! Send me an email or drop your takeaways in the comments here on the blog.
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