In this episode Coach Jason explains his unique perspective on what actually is a Life Vision and why it’s absolutely essential in making any type of lasting change in your life. Jason also shares some of his own personal transformations over the last few years — and will walk you through the very vision building exercise he now uses with his private clients to help you create your own personal break through — and begin living Full Force.

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Build Your Full Force Vision

Hey, everybody. This is Jason Botts. Welcome to this episode of the Full Force Life podcast. Episode number five, in fact. Today’s topic, it’s just going to be me. No special guest today. I think this the vision for my show, having these type of episodes where I could almost treat it like a coaching session where there’s something that I can discuss and then we can do in-depth and have actually a real-time workshop here towards the end, where I walk you through questions and you will discover new insights, new distinctions, new answers, new inner resources that you can realize to live your life full force.

Today’s topic that I wanted to do was vision and how to create a vision and what actually is a vision. To me, I think that’s become this really big, giant and embellished word. You look at websites and you see corporations and businesses. They’ve got their vision for their company and underneath it their vision statement. For me, vision has nothing to do with words. It’s a vision, it’s a picture. As simple as it sounds to me, a vision is just a picture in your head. Maybe it’s even a movie, but just a picture or movie in your head. Whatever is playing in there is where you’re moving towards.

To give a quick little easy example, just think of this. I want you to go ahead and imagine what a 70-year old you is going to look like. What are you going to look like at 70 years old? Hopefully, you’re under the age of 70. If you’re over the age of 70 and you’re listening to the show, then add ten years and imagine what you’re going to look like in ten years.

I’ve done with enough people to know that if you’re creating a picture, at 70 years old, that person is healthy and energetic, has abs, has muscles and he’s bouncing around and playing around and rolling around with their grandkids. Then you’re probably a pretty healthy and energetic person in your life right now, regardless if you’re 20, 30, 40 or 50 years old. If you’ve created a vision in your head and that person is heading around Walmart in one of those little motorized carts, coughing, emphysema, those little oxygen machines, and they got diabetes and who knows. Then you’re probably not living very healthy right now. I know that automatically.

That vision in our heads is what we’re moving towards. It’s how we make our decisions, our actions, and our behaviors, all if they’re congruent with that vision or not. The power of vision, think about it. Even in the episodes with Michael Young and Aubrey Huff, they talk about this vision that they have themselves as athletes. They put in their work. They just had this vision in their head of where they were going, what kind of ball players are going to be, what it was like when they were in the big leagues? They didn’t write it down. They didn’t have a mission statement to go along with it. It was just a picture in their head.

I’m going to share a couple of stories with what you can do by changing that vision in your head. You change that picture in your head, you can change your world. You can change your life. I’m going to share a couple of examples of my own life and how that happened. As well as we’re going to walk you through a process at the end and you can change that image however you need it to be in whatever area in your life. I think that’s an important thing to talk about. You don’t have to have a vision for your whole life, but there are many, many different types of visions. You can have a vision for your health, then another picture for your relationships, another picture for your career or family, your personal life, whatever it is. Pick one. You know which one you need right now, the one that’s going to be the linchpin of it all. You get this vision in line and all the other ones are going to fall in order.

Go ahead and take that one on. This is going to be a working process towards the end. I know you might be driving around listening to this episode. But I cannot stress enough how important it is to come back later and to do the process or to take the time and do the assignment at the very end and answer the questions. I run into this all the time as a coach. I will email these questions. I will message these questions. I did this early on in the very beginning. I would just send them out an email form. I will message them and say, “Okay, let’s create a vision of your life. Here are the questions.” I get back to them three days later and they still hadn’t answered them yet. This is after me explaining, “This one little step, this one little vision is going to change the course of everything.” I know it seems so teeny, so tiny, and so insignificant.

Let me give you an example of how it works. This man Robert Dilts, one of the developers of Neuro-Linguistic Programming that I extensively have trained in, he came up with this thing call the logical levels. He explains why some people just fell to make changes in their life. If you think of the different levels, the depths that you can change, the different depths of a level that you can change at.  On the very outside of it is the environment. Think of the environment as, have you ever changed a relationship? You ended one relationship yet you started another relationship somewhere down the road and it took on the same patterns, the same interactions. That person that you thought was totally different is now changing to that same person in the past. That’s because all you do is change the environment. You didn’t change your behaviors in the deeper level of who you are.

That’s the next step, is behavior. If you go a little deeper than the environment, it’s behavior, it’s the actions and the habits that you do daily. A little bit deeper than that is your capabilities, your skills. You go another step below that is your beliefs of what you’re capable of. A little bit deeper than that is the belief of what’s most important in your life. We call those our values. Values are very deep things inside of us. You change your values, you change a lot about your life. Deeper than that is your beliefs of who you think you are, also known as that big word, identity. The deeper that you go where you can make a change at a deeper level, it actually changes everything on the way out. You change a part deep inside of your values, your beliefs of who you are, it’s going to change your behaviors. It’s going to change your environment automatically.

The only thing that’s even deeper than the beliefs of identity, the beliefs of who you think you are, is this thing called vision, also known as the spirit. Think of a great example, think of someone who has been a drug addict for years and years. They associate, “I am a drug addict.” A statement of identity, “I am a drug addict.” All of a sudden they have these experiences and they become a born-again Christian. Now, they associate themselves at an identity level, “I am a Christian.” They have this new vision, this new spirit in their lives and it changes everything about them. It changes their beliefs, changes their values, changes their capabilities and their skills and their behaviors and their environment. That’s what I’m talking about here. When you create a new vision deep down inside, you change it all.

To give you a great example, I think many of you might know that I have this ugly habit, disgusting habit, for a long time of dipping tobacco, Copenhagen, for nearly seventeen years. I was a ball player. It’s kind of what we do, right? A few years ago, I decided I want to quit after I got done retiring. I want to quit. At this point, I didn’t know a lot about all these deeper level stuff and so I just thought, “I’m going to create a new habit, change my actions, and change my behaviors.” For about two months, I was miserable. The cravings, the withdrawals, the aches, the pains. I felt like my skin was crawling. I wanted to bite the heads off of my wife at that time and my children.

In fact, after those two months, I was so depressed, so miserable, so stressed, so overwhelmed, so everything, that was the time that I finally made the decision, “I’m out of this relationship.” I moved out of the house. One of my triggers for dipping tobacco was loneliness or boredom, and I went right back to it. Inside this vision, this picture that was still in my head was me as a dipper. Me wanting to take a dip. I liked it and I loved it. No matter what I did as behaviors, that was incongruent with this vision that I had. This vision was that I was dipper. That’s how I saw myself. Over time, that picture was going to win out. There was no will power. Will power doesn’t exist. It’s this vision that drives you. The vision is going to play out. The vision is going to win ultimately.

Fast forward that another year. I decided once again, “I’m ready to kick this habit.” Now, I’ve learned about the logical levels. I’ve learned about creating a vision and how to do that. I’m starting to work with clients, working with athletes and peak performers, that’s how I started off originally. I started thinking to myself, I know I need to change myself at a deeper level. I know I need to change my vision and the beliefs of who I am. I know I can no longer have this part of me inside that says, “I am a dipper.” I need to change that. I need to change it by changing it to a new vision of my life. What would be great would be if I could kick this habit and then turn around and help other people kick their habit of smoking, of dipping, of other types of addictions. That would be awesome. Now, that gets me motivated, that gets me juiced.

I sit down and I redefine, I recreate this vision of my life. In this picture, I see myself as someone who helps other people. I’m a healer. I went from being “I’m a dipper” to “I’m a healer.” I’m a coach who can help other people overcome the biggest challenges in their life. That changed how I saw myself. Now, coming from that place, when that fully got engrained in me, I was ready to quit dipping. Because now dipping, putting that in my mouth was incongruent with how I saw myself. It was incongruent with the vision of my life.

Think of it in other terms. If your vision is a healthy person and you see yourself already as a healthy person, “I’m a healthy person. I’m a fit person.” You might have a piece of chocolate here and there. To do it daily, do it all day every day, eat sweets, that is incongruent with how you see yourself and incongruent with the vision of your life. That’s why this simple little picture, this simple little video in your head is so important. That’s why I issue out these questions and I stopped issuing out these questions. What I did was I started demanding pretty much. I get people on the phone. If they’re going to be my client, I was going to walk them through every single question and make sure that they give me answers that I knew are going to lead them to what they wanted.

That’s why if I get a little demanding in my voice and make you walk through this process, if I have this feeling that you’re not doing the exercises when I’m talking, I’m going to come out there and I’m going to find you. I’m six foot seven, 295 pounds, and I still move pretty well. I will get you. I’m going to sit you down or stand you up through this process, and get you to come up with the answers that are congruent with what you want for yourself, your family, your health, your finances, whatever it is. Because I cannot think of another more important exercise for you to do than the process at the end of this.

Another story to go along with the story of me beating tobacco. It might seem a bigger deal or not as big of a deal. To me, it’s a bigger deal and I’m more proud of it even than quitting tobacco. It was the co-parenting that my former wife and I, Brandy, that we do with our children. The family that we have, the family that we created, even though we’re no longer together. It’s something that people compliment us on. There are people that asked for our guidance, and we always tell them, step number one, create a vision. How life is going to be for the future as a family, even though you guys are no longer together.

There was a time where we decided we can’t do this. We cannot serve each other to the fullest highest form, we cannot meet our relationship vision with each other. But how are we going to have the best family possible? How are we going to create a vision where everything is better than it is now? We sat down. At that time for me, I was a little hurt in terms of, “How am I expecting to live as happy and as fulfilled if I don’t see my sons every single day of their lives while they’re little?” I was really struggling from that aspect. This vision is what got me over that hurdle, over that hump, because Brandy was brilliant. Brandy goes, “In this vision, we need to have it so we no longer see it as a family that’s breaking up, but we see it as a family that’s expanding.”

It was brilliant on her part. She goes, “I’m going to bring in someone and you’re going to bring in someone. At the end of the day, our two sons are going to know more love because of these two people.  They’re going to have more love in their life because these two people are going to come and they’re going to love them. They’re going to know more things. There are going to be two different people, instead of having just mom and dad teaching them skills about life, there are going to be two other people that could teach them things. Things that we don’t know anything about.  I had another great friend, she tells me at that time, “Do you want the boys to be just with their momma when they’re not with you for three or four days at the time? Do you want them just hearing their momma’s voice? Or do you want another man? A masculine man who’s going to teach them how to model and to be following in their footsteps well?”

That’s exactly what happened. She brought someone in who I couldn’t like any more, I couldn’t admire any more. The skills and the knowledge I see in him and the attention and the presence that he gives my sons, I just see them growing and becoming stronger individuals and they’re going to be even better men because they have this person in their lives as well. It’s going to be these combined forces. Someday there’s going to be another woman in their life as well. I’ll bring in someone and there’s going to be more love for them. That’s the power of vision. We get along better than we ever have. We’re better friends. We have a deeper, more connecting relationship. We’re stronger as a family, a hundred times stronger. Even though we’re no longer together in that sense, the boys, I know are being served greater in the long run because of it.

For me, that is the ultimate example of the power of vision. You create whatever image is in your head. You’re moving towards it, whether you know it or not. There is an image there. There’s always an image in the background. It’s like that example of the health. You might not have thought you had this image of what a 70-year old looks like. You’ve got one. You might not be aware but it’s there. What we’re going to do today is we’re going to take conscious control and make a decision on exactly what that picture is going to be in our head. In the next few steps, you’re going to be assigned to that. First, I’m going to give you another example. If you still don’t believe me on the power of vision, I’m going to give you a quick little exercise.

If you’re driving right now, come back, or if people are around and you can’t do this exercise, come back to it later. You’ve got to do it later though. What I want you to do is I want you to stand up. Put your feet together, you’re ankle to ankle, knee to knee. I want you to lift your right arm up, straight out ahead of you, with your right pointy finger out. I want you to turn clockwise, keeping your feet together, turn clockwise as far as you comfortably can go. As you get as far as you can go, just take that snapshot. A mental image of exactly how far you went and spin back around , uncoil yourself, come back to center. Put your arm down.

Now, just close your eyes and just imagine that you do that same thing, but this time, imagine that you went two feet further. Just imagine what two feet further, what that would look like, what that would feel like. Now, uncoil yourself, come back to the center. Now again, one more time, I want you to go ahead and do it, passed that two feet so now you’re four feet further than you went. Just imagine what that looks like and feels like. Go ahead and do it. Now, one last time, do it three feet passed that four feet. Now, I’m sure you’re going more than 360 degrees. You’re going all the way around. You’re probably like some Bugs Bunny or Looney Tunes character or something, coiling into the ground.

Uncoil yourself. Come back to center. Now, open your eyes. Stick that right arm out straight ahead of you again and turn clockwise. Turn to the right and see how far you go. How much further did you go? I know you went further. I know you went at least six inches to two feet further because I’ve done this with hundreds of people. I tell you another thing you might now know, you turned around even faster the second time. How did that happen? You didn’t stretch. You didn’t warm up. It worked because you gave a clear image. Your brain created a clear image and told your body, “This is what’s going to happen. This is what I’m capable of. This is what I’m going to do right now.” That’s another great example. That was just in a few minutes.

Imagine what you can do with your life after you create this vision and the direction that you give it. What you tell your body, you tell the environment, you tell the world what you’re capable of. You’re standing up. Go ahead shake yourself out. This is how it’s going to work. I’m going to ask you a series of questions. What I ultimately want you to do is not just think out the answer, but I want you to speak them out, because that’s only going to provide more energy, more force behind it all. What I want you to do is I want you to get into the state. Pick a topic. What’s this area that you want to create a new vision? Is it your health? Is it your relationships? Is it your career?

Before we begin, I want you to get into that state, the most resourceful state for that area of your life. If you’re trying to improve your health, associate in your body a time that you felt really healthy or really energetic, really alive. If there wasn’t a time, just imagine what it would be like. Stand with a little bit of energy and a little hop. Breathe like you did then. Maybe, if you’re working on trying to improve your relationship, just feel lovey dovey. Have that look on your face of being lovey dovey in that lovey dovey state. If you’re trying to improve your professional life, your performance maybe, that kickass mentality, kickass and take names, as I like to call it, get in that unstoppable state and stand like the last time you remember feeling totally unstoppable, breathe like you did then.

Regardless of which state you’re in, when you answer these questions, I want you to speak with conviction, speak with belief. Get it congruent in your voice and in your body that this is what you want and this is where you’re headed. Let’s get this thing started. Here we go. You’re in this great state.

First thing, close your eyes. What I want you to do is imagine you’re hopping into a vehicle, probably a car. You hop in the car and you’re driving down the road way off in the horizon. Way off in the distance is this picture, maybe it’s a movie. As you’re driving closer to it, it’s starting to get bigger and bigger and closer to you. I want you to recognize that this is the vision, the vision that’s usually in the background. Now, you can see it crystal clear. Now, we’re going to start changing it to the way we want it to be. As it gets bigger and as it gets closer to you, what do you see? I want you to see yourself out there in that image right now. This future you, what do you see? What are you doing in that picture? What kind of sounds are in the picture? How are you moving?

Now, as this image keeps getting closer and it keeps getting bigger, and it keeps getting brighter right in front of you. Now, you’re given this great look at it. You’re starting to see great details, the things that you never noticed before. Where exactly are you? Say it out loud, say it strong. What are you doing there? Describe your actions, your behaviors. What new skills or resources do you have in this place that the current you doesn’t yet do? How about, what are the beliefs of this future you? What do they believe that they’re capable of? What do they believe about the world? What are the types of things that they find most valuable? Is it different from you? Do they value something more than you do? Or maybe they have an entirely different value that you don’t even have. What is it? Speak it out loud. How do they describe themselves, you think? What kind of person do you think they are?

Now, this image, this movie is right in front of you. What I want you to do is go ahead shut the car off, make sure you shut the car off, very important. Hop on out of the car, shut the door. Hop into this picture, this movie. Hop into it, walk through it and walk right up to this future you. I want you to literally step in to their shoes. If you’re standing up right now, take those two little steps right into them and put their skin on like it’s a suit of armor, this future you. Now, you’re looking out of their eyes. You’re looking in this future vision out of their eyes. You’re this person. This future you is now you in the moment.

I want you to go ahead and ask yourselves, what do you see? Is there anything different that you see now, looking out of their eyes? What about types of things that you hear? Do you hear anything different? What about, what types of feelings are in your body? What are you feeling in your body right now? Is it more happiness? More joy, more love, more pride, more gratitude? These are the reasons. These are the emotions. These are the reasons why you created this vision in the first place, because you knew it was going to make you feel something better. If you can’t learn to associate these feelings to these pictures, this image, you’re not going to be going towards there.

It’s like that story of me quitting tobacco. The image I had caused me pain every time I thought about it. Life without tobacco made me not feel very happy. What did I do? I did everything I could to make sure I got back to putting tobacco on my mouth because that was a better vision, a happier time. You have to associate great feelings to these visions. I want you to feel the pride, feel the gratitude, feel the love, feel the joy, the happiness, the excitement, whatever those emotions are in this vision, feel them now. Begin linking them to this vision, all these stuff that you see out there in a distance.

Now, who are you now? Go ahead and announce it out loud. I am? What’s different about you now in this vision? I am? I now am? Say it aloud and speak it into life. What are your values? Are your values different? Has values changed order or maybe there’s a new value in your life, something new is important? What kind of beliefs do you have now about yourself, about the world? What you’re capable of? Speak them out loud. Do you notice that there are new skills that you know now? New resources? New connections? What’s different? What type of actions are you taking in this vision now? What type of actions do you need to start doing today on a daily basis to get to this place? Where do you need to start? What’s going to be your first step?

Now, I’m sure you’ve got a much clearer picture of what this vision is. What I want you to do is go ahead and step out the future you in this vision, and climb on out of this big picture, this big movie. Come back to your car, your vehicle. By the way, did your vehicle change at all? I know some people have done this process and they said, “I pulled up in a beat up Chevy and I’m leaving in an Escalade.” It’s a great thing if that happens. What I want you to do is hop in the car, and just know that this vision is now there. As long as it stays in front of you, you’re going to be moving towards it. The more you feed it, the more it will grow. The more you think about it. The more you step into it on a daily basis. The more you imagine living it, the stronger it’s going to grow and the more it’s going to pull you to it.

The last part of this task, I know we spent quite a few minutes going through this, and this is a great start, but for you overachievers, what I highly, highly suggest is sit down, either go through the questions again or just expand this vision. You get the idea of what I tried to walk you through. Expand it even more. Write out new distinctions, new ideas, new details about this vision and what it looks, sounds and feels like. Make it even stronger, more real. Associate even more tremendous emotions and feelings to it. You’re only going to make this process even stronger inside of you. It can change your life. I know it has for me.

Go, do your assignment now. Those who just listened to this and haven’t done it yet, like I said, I will hunt you down if you do not get this done. Until then, I hope you guys enjoyed this episode, this workshop style. Give me feedback. Let me know specifically what your vision is. If I can help you in any way possible, I’d love to. I’d love to hear your answers, what you thought of the show. I want to do several other ones very similar to this in the future, along with bringing new special guests in here. Until next time, I want you guys to continue to live full force, aim high, swing hard, smile often and have a great day.