How To Use Your Vision to Achieve Business Success
The next millionaire interview will be coming at the end of this week. One of the most important things mentioned was about visioning. Visioning is key! (Stay tuned for the awesome interview with Adrian from 7Million7Years.com)
We all know that we need to have a goals for the business we want. If we don’t know where we want to go, how will we ever end up there?
Many people I interact with create goals for their business and either something comes up to change them or they just never look at them again. That’s not what a vision is. A vision isn’t just a few goals.
A vision is who you will become, the culture, and what your business is recognized for. It’s a paragraph or two of the whole point of your company. Do you want to change the world, or just make a lot of money? (Both can be included if they are both important!)
If you don’t have a vision yet, start one. It may take time to refine, but it’s one of the most important things you can do in your business and life.
You Have a Vision, Now What?
You need to be completely committed to your vision. I know this sounds crazy but you don’t even need to be committed to how your business runs today. A huge opportunity might come your way and change the core of your business. But you need to be committed to your vision because it will tell you whether or not the opportunity is for you.
When asked how IBM achieved its phenomenal success Founder Tom Watson said I had a very clear picture of what the company would look like when it was done. I then asked myself how a company which looked like that would have to act. Then I realized that we would never be able to act that way unless we acted that way from the beginning.
Once you have your vision, you can’t put it away. It determines how you act right now. It determines what is most important to you and your business.
The Vision is the Strategic Intent? of the business owner. It should be considered the ultimate goal. It captures the essence of success, is stable over time, and is deeply motivating at all levels.
Put yourself into the future. Who are you in your vision? Are you confident and conquering the world? Is that how you act now? Write a list of 10 characteristics that describe you in the future.
(If you are having a hard time with this, find someone who you respect now, and embodies the characteristics you want and write those down)
You can use these characteristics to grow. Daily work on each of these characteristics will move you forward fast. You can make amazing changes in a year to become the person that runs the company you want.
Use your vision to make decisions. You will face a lot of decisions in your business. Use the vision as a guide, and ask yourself “If I were that person in my vision now, what decision would I make?”?
I like to say that I have a goal of million dollars, not for the money but for the person I’ll become. You can start becoming that person right now.
If you aren’t working from a vision you might be headed in the wrong direction, and never know it. You might be pulled to a place that sounds pretty good, but isn’t truly what you were meant to do.
Start with the end in mind, and not only will you have a better chance of achieving your dreams, but you will be more clear now.
Do you have a vision? Do you work from it often or does it sit in a word doc on your computer never to be looked at again?
Take some action on your vision today!
Tags: business success, Decision Making, Goals, Mental Clarity, Visioning
Categories: Business, Entrepreneurship
Hi I’m Jaime. Each and every week I bring you the top business advice from the people who know best.
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11 responses
Tom Watson’s vision was incredible: for example, he famously had all salesmen wearing blue suits, white shirts (and, hats in their day!). I was a anarchist and did my best to shift to brown suits, just for the helluvit 🙂
Tom inspired Michael Gerber (The E-Myth Revisited) and Michael Gerber inspired me …
It’s funny because I had no idea that “Watson” was on jeopardy! I just love the quote.
Oh and to continue it-” Tom inspired Michael Gerber (The E-Myth Revisited) and Michael Gerber inspired me …” Now you have inspired me. So thanks Adrian 🙂
I have a vision for my blog and goals too. I took my goals and broke them down to daily tasks. Right now, I am concentrating on my daily tasks! As they are accomplished and my goals accomplished, I will be on my way. I know exactly what I am going to do and how it will look.
That’s what it takes! Daily effort and action. 🙂
For me, it’s important to be able to “experience my vision” in advance to stay motivated to achieve it. I do business plans every year and then modify the plan as I go. Yet, there is something even more powerful than putting my vision into writing. When I can SEE myself doing it and feel how that will feel, I will stay excited to achieve it.
🙂 Susan
I do that too! I’ll even go back through my “perfect day” and see what matches up today. It’s so fun to realize how close you are, even if it’s as easy as having the perfect morning routine.
Oh I like THAT! Envisioning my perfect day and then seeing how well my ACTUAL day matched up.
You are a genius.
giggle.
Susan
PS. fun to be getting to know you through your blog.
Re:”You can start becoming that person right now”. Sweet point. For me, I like the idea of building upon small victories in your vision. Bumps will happen but the overall outlook must be contentedness as the small victories become h-u-g-e:) Thanks. I love your blog.
Thanks Rob. Exactly. Contentedness should be a daily thing. 🙂
You’re right on the money with this Jaime. Vision becomes especially important in those times when your plan looks like it’s veering off course–or maybe the wheels look like they might come off the plan. If we can focus on the “why” of what it is we’re doing, it makes it easier to weather the moments of fear and doubt.
Also, Susan a couple of comments above, makes an outstanding point about “experiencing my vision”. We need to have specific steps we’re taking that make it real–a dream with action you might say.