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Picture this.

You’ve recently quit your full-time job to fully immerse yourself in the world of entrepreneurship.

It’s been a tough few weeks figuring out your schedule, but it’s slowly starting to make sense.

You haven’t had any clients or sales just yet, but you’re full of hope that good fortune is on the way.

Even with the hardship of making it out on your own, the difficulty feels meaningful.

Looking back on your time in your full-time job, you have mixed feelings.

The laughter around the office will be missed, as will the friends you got to see every weekday.

Yet, on the whole, you’ve promised yourself that you’ll never go back.

No matter what happens, it’s sink or swim.

The negative experiences still outweigh the positive ones.

You won’t miss the endless meetings, the countless emails and the oppression of your boss.

Now, you’re free - even if that comes at a price.

In this edition of The Path Toward Purpose we’re going to explore The Anti-Vision: A Guide to Understanding What You Don't Want In Life, so that you can pave a path towards what you truly desire.

Let’s get into it.

 The Foundations of The Anti-Vision

The Anti-Vision is simply a clear understanding of what you don’t want in life.

A recognition of your pain points, where you’ve suffered meaningless discomfort.

This could be in a previous job, a toxic relationship or failed business pathway.

A lot of people complain about what they can’t control, yet this serves no purpose.

Complaining is blowing off steam, it only serves to help us feel better momentarily.

The Anti-Vision however, serves to help us understand where we should direct our future efforts.

 The Mental Framework

The human brain loves negativity.

It’s so easy to focus on one dark thought, and spiral out into oblivion.

Even the most positive person has to fight to keep their negative thoughts at bay.

However, we can also use this to our advantage.

Those negative thoughts are an indication that you’re not experiencing your best life at the moment.

Something is astray, even if you don’t understand what that may be.

Through crafting an Anti-Vision, you can get very clear on what you don’t want.

This way, your thoughts shift positively, as now you know what to focus upon with clarity.

 How-To Apply This

Creating an Anti-Vision is an important stepping stone I recommend to anyone on a journey of personal growth.

Knowing what you want is useful, but it’s not nearly as motivating as moving away from what you don’t want.

Here’s how you could do it:

Step 1. Recognize your pain points

Take a good look into the past.

Where have you thought, “I never want to do this again?”.

Whether it’s a career, relationship or situation - begin to create a catalogue of pain points.

Once you have these written, take a look at the correlation.

Throughout all of your pain points, what are the common themes?

How did you end up in these situations repeatedly?

Step 2. Separate the past and present

Now you have a clear idea of your pain points.

Clearly write a vision of what you don’t want in life.

Here’s an example of one that my client Emma created for herself.

“I never, ever want to go back to my consulting career. Even though I got paid well, it felt like I was wasting my life potential. I don’t ever want to return to my ex-boyfriend, who has put me through heartbreak for the last few years. I don’t want to remain in the UK, where I hate the weather and the environment.”

Plotting what you want in the future is very important, but it’s also key to get clear on what you’d like to remove from your life.

In the case of Emma, she wanted to move to warmer climates and train in the martial arts.

It’s much harder to doubt your actions, when you can see meaningful progress of yourself moving towards what you DO want from life.

Step 3. Create a personal vision

I’ve touched upon this in Newsletter 1, Newsletter 6 and Newsletter 9, so I won’t go too in-depth here.

However, when you recognize what you don’t want from life.

It becomes a lot simpler to recognize what you do want from life.

Write down and clearly distinguish:

→ What exactly you’d like to attain within the next 5 years

→ Why you wish to attain it

→ Where you’d like to have it

→ Who you’d like to share it with

→ How you plan to make it happen

Naturally, this is a simplified version of the personal vision exercise I take my clients through.

Yet, it’s the foundation of everything you’ll work towards in life.

Those that have no direction, can never move forward.

You wouldn’t drive to a new destination without a GPS, would you?

🚀 Next Steps

When you define your Anti-Vision, a lot will fall into place very quickly.

You don’t want to view it consistently, but you can use it as leverage for reflection.

Whenever it feels like the future is blurry and you’re unclear on what comes next.

Check back in with your Anti-Vision and make sure you’re moving AWAY from it.

Have faith in your ability to move forward and hold strong in working towards your Personal Vision.

The rewards of attaining the life you desire is an unparalleled feeling.

Nothing on Earth can compare.