I was never a vision board-type of person. I appreciate beauty and have aesthetic preferences, but I don't subscribe to magazines or collect stickers, where I can find the perfect visual asset to capture the essence of a 'soft life'. I journal maybe once every three months when I'm crashing out. My to-do lists sit on OneNote, post-its, napkins, Obsidian, and sometimes on my palm in smudged sharpie stains. When it came to setting and documenting goals, it was difficult for me to find something consistent until recently.

Last year, a couple friends came over with markers, magazines, tape and glue to visionboard their next 3-5 years. I joined in on the fun, but quickly realized that I was writing on the board a lot. Instead of gluing a yoga mat photo or peeling stickers of books, I broke down how often I wanted to stretch and the completion rate of books by quarter. I was looking at Google Maps to find the nearest track field, and doing requisite calculations to fit runs in my work schedule.

I was breaking down my vision into granular levels. I was mapping my own customer journey.

I work in marketing so this realization didn't take me by surprise. Looking at the fundamentals of customer journey mapping, I found that there are a lot of useful takeaways that can be applied to our own goals and aspirations in life.

Customer journey mapping is a visual narrative of the customer experience that depicts the stages that customers progress through and how they engage with different touch points along your product and/or service. It can be used to improve or design your company's customer experiences.

Why map the customer (your) journey?

• To shift the perspective from inside-out to outside-in. Mapping your story or journey sheds light on your real human experience and builds self-empathy.
• To bridge silos. Journey maps create a vision of your entire journey without regard to temporal or geographic limitations, so they promote problem-solving mentality with blue sky thinking
• To assign ownership of key touchpoints. journey maps can create clarity around where, when, and how you should own the actions needed to improve your life.
• To understand yourself. Helps you get to know the experience of your current situation (what is or isn't working) and explore your desires or needs.
• To identify innovation opportunities. Highlights pain points, frustrations, and friction in the journey, which can be used to drive experience innovation.
• To develop targeted content. Journey maps provide insights into information of what you need at each stage of your journey and the touch points you use for the information, which can inform the design system of how to facilitate your journey in a way that's relevant and whose progress resonates with you.

How to map the customer's (your) journey? Approach it in this order, rinse and repeat.

• define your ~~business~~ goals
• define your scope
• gather ~~customer~~ your data
• design your journey map
• improve ~~customer~~ your experience

Example: I have this vision of the person I want to become. She works out 3-5x a week, she's a great run, she has run a marathon, she reads voraciously, she got promoted at work recently, she cooks her own healthy food, and she invests a majority of her income wisely. How can I become this person?

• That sounds like a really accomplished person! I would love to be her. Okay, what are my goals from this vision?
  • Be a good friend
  • Run frequently
  • Read more books
  • Be a high-performer at my job
  • Cook my own meals
  • Cut down on frivolous spending
  • Learn how to invest
• Woah, that's a lot of lofty goals and there is only so much I can do in a year. What is my scope?
  • Run frequently
  • Read more books
  • Cook my own meals
  • Cut down on frivolous spending
• Sounds fine. What do I know about myself already in the context of each goal? Let's run a self-diagnostic.
  • Run frequently
    • I ran a half-marathon a year ago and it was fun but difficult. I learned that sticking to a training plan is the most helpful tool. Fueling and sleep are important as well, to aid recovery.
    • I know that I can get lazy, especially when it comes to showing up. The activation energy is something I'll need to work on.
  • Read more books
    • I read 30 books last year. That's a good amount of books, but there was a rut in the summer where I didn't read for a few months. I think if I stuck to a reading plan and adhered to it during the summer, I can read 4 more books than last year.
  • Cook my own meals
    • I order takeout once a week. That's not bad, but I'd like to limit takeout orders to once a month, as 1) emergencies or 2) self-care celebrations.
    • The hardest part about cooking is finding recipes. I could buy a few cookbooks that have been on my shopping list to facilitate my meal prep process.
  • Cut down on frivolous spending
    • I spent 30% of my discretionary income on travel, and 15% on restaurants. I can travel less this year and I will order less takeout, which should bring my expenses down over time.
• Design your journey map