Of course, your vision doesn’t have to be all about your career or even your health. At a workshop I conducted a couple of years ago, a woman named Isabel had one of my all-time favorite visions. She decided to create a relationship in which she and her soon-to-be husband would fall more in love every year. She wrote down how each of them would feel about the other at the end of year one and at the end of year two, year three, and so on. Then she wrote down exactly how they would create that feeling together. She thought of small ways to let him know how terrific he was: humorous, affectionate e-mails in the middle of the day for no particular reason; toasts over a glass of wine at night to celebrate any small, good thing that had happened. She created a concept she called “You’re With Me Tonight!”: surprise dates where each of them would take turns wowing the other with new, out-of-the-way restaurants, obscure movies, or moonlight swims.

Isabel e-mailed me a few weeks ago to tell me that she and her husband had already “reached their castle.” In fact, she said, “We added a new wing!” The addition of a new baby girl is bringing them even closer together. Isabel and her husband learned something invaluable: If they could dream it, they could do it.

So how do you build your castle? It’s easy. Just think, How good could I make the next beautiful segment of my life? What would it look like? How would it feel? Flesh out your vision; color it in. Put in as many details as you can. I can see my grandchildren; I can hear them laughing; I can see the sun shining on their hair and the sturdiness of their little bodies. Nothing in my control will keep me from being there with them. I love cheeseburgers and potato chips, but I won’t eat them. I hate lifting weights, but I’ll lift them. In fact, I can’t think of any annoyance or inconvenience I won’t endure to be able to run along that beach, holding those little hands. Now it’s your turn. How good could you make it?