Why do I need a Vision Statement? I am getting along just fine with the way things are, I am paying my bills and working my way up in the JOB I have why do I want to rock the boat.
Psychologically you live in the present, you look at what you have, what you do and who you are in the “present" not in the future. You get up each morning and see where you live, what you drive, where you work and what you do each day and every week as it is right now.
To take advantage of your Dreams to Achieve Your True Worth you need to start seeing your life as it will be as you start living in your True Worth, your new lifestyle. But how do you do this since you only see your life in it’s present tense? How do you use the power of your mind and start moving into the “YOU" you deserve to be?
Wah Lah, enter the Vision Statement. This statement is a statement of your new lifestyle, the things you deserve, such as the house, the car, the ability to assist others, the trips, the vacations, etc. Everything in this statement is in the present tense as if you already have them and are living them. Here is where your Dreams become present tense and active because you are living it TODAY and it is awesome.
“The surround sound system fills the interior of my _______ (type of vehicle) as I am driving back from the airport. My trip to ___________ was just as I had imagined it would be. And after spending that time on an airplane the smell of new leather in my _____________ is so refreshing. Just ahead I see my two story home that some of my friends call my mansion in the middle of nowhere. It is surrounded by trees and the lush lawn just begs to be walked on with your bare feet…"
Embellish as much as possible with all the details of your new life. Describe in minute detail the exterior and landscaping of your home, all the rooms and what is in each room. Your daily routine as it will be and the things you plan to do next, (i.e. Trips, Vacations, visiting, learning, etc.) just everything you have ever dreamed of doing. Running your business out of your office or from your office building (if you want to keep your business and personal life separate). Your investments, your rental properties, the properties you are flipping, etc.
The greater the detail the better easier it is for it to become part of you. The more you read it the more your posture and self assurance will improve. As these improve your attitude will improve because you are becoming your Vision, you are the person that has and does all of these things because in your subconscious you are creating the You that You have always Deserved to be. Your self confidence will increase and come to the top and you will feel so much better about yourself and your ability to improve your lifestyle.
Reading your Vision Statement every day is one way to begin this life enhancing experience but one that works even better is to record your Vision Statement as you read it and copy it to a CD or tape so that you can listen to it at least once a day. Studies have shown that there are two voices that have the most profound influence upon someone’s life your mothers voice or your voice.
Day after day of hearing your vision your subconscious will start believing and as it starts believing so do you and that starts and keeps things moving in your life towards your new direction. This replaces the negative self talk you might be doing at the present time. Any time something negative comes up in your mind (self talk) your daily listening to or reading of your Vision Statement should eventually replace this with a positive self talk.
Might sound like gibberish to some, but it has had outstanding results for those that have committed and followed through with Visions, their goals, their action plans, etc. When do you feel it is time to write your vision statement and start hearing your new life every day? No time life the present or else you are going to end up with the same life you have now doing the same things you have been doing.
What do you “Deserve" to have? What lifestyle do you “Deserve" to live? Truthfully, “No One Deserves It More Than YOU!" because “YOU Deserve To Have It All!"
What would it take to make your business fail? What conditions could precipitate and sustain "the spiral of death"? What would complete financial collapse really look like? If your primary competitor acquired the firm, where would they strip out expenses, and what assets would they covet? These are grisly questions to consider, but sometimes we need to envision complete breakdown and failure to understand how to prevent it, and find the next level of success.
Envisioning the failure of your organization is not a pleasant exercise, in fact it can be downright scary. In life, and in business, none of us like to think about potential failure, let alone describe it in gory detail and wallow in it. Yet, in a controlled environment, it will be one of the most useful and enlightening discussions a management team will ever have. Creating a vision of failure will force management to:
?Critically understand, challenge and test the assumptions that your strategy is built on.
?Look at the business as an objective third party might.
?Discover remarkable clarity about weaknesses, gaps, and opportunities.
?Put traditional risk assessment into a broader and more useful context.
?Be truly innovative to find new sources of growth and strength.
?Learn to recognize potential warning signs of real failure, before it is too late.
?Align their thinking on key issues that usually remains unspoken.
The exercise is straightforward. We've all been through workshops, and strategic off-sites to create a vision of the future, and a strategy to get there. In its traditional form, a typical vision statement spells out where you want to be, and what the company looks like at a point in time in the future. In essence, the traditional vision statement is a snapshot of the desired future state of the company.
Rather than create a vision of a desired future state, envision varying degrees of business failure, and what events, inside and outside of your control might contribute. A few pointers for success:
?Keep the session secret. The very notion can be alarming and distracting to employees. Without the proper context, shareholders, customers, and competitors will draw their own conclusions.
?Keep the results secret. The output from the session is an articulation of your flaws and weaknesses, and could be dangerous in the wrong hands.
?Use a consultant that is experienced with similar exercises. This exercise can get badly off-track if not handled expertly.
?Be prepared to act on what you learn. If you won't take steps to change based on the results, then don't bother with the exercise.
?Be as open and objective as possible. This is not a session for management to air their pet peeves, and bemoan everything that is bad about the company.
?Ensure the work is sponsored and fully supported by the CEO or division leader.
Careful preparation and follow up are as important as the session itself. After the session, you should have a solid statement of just how bad things could go wrong. Like a traditional vision statement, a vision of failure will be more useful and practical if it is strategic, but specific. Choose a planning horizon 3-5 years out to keep the discussion grounded. Make sure the potential failure points are measurable, so everyone is clear. Just hope you never see those measures of failure in your business, and don't post the new vision on your website!
As with traditional strategic planning, once you have your vision of the future, you need a plan. The output of the exercise should include well defined actions with clear timelines and accountabilities for members of the management team.
There are crucial side-benefits to envisioning failure. After you go through this exercise your management team, you'll find that in your usual forums, negativity creeps into the conversation a lot less often. Like facing any fears, envisioning failure helps to remove some of the mystery, and makes it easier to face. When negativity does surface, the team will look at it more thoughtfully, critically, and usually with less detriment to your real agenda.
Talk to anyone that has been deeply and personally involved in a real business failure, and they will likely tell you that things became very clear near the end. There is nothing like winding down a business after catastrophic failure to help you step back and really understand the big picture with remarkable clarity. Like a failed marriage, it's often easier to see where things started to go off track, when it is too late to do anything about it.
This work is not for the faint of heart, but the results are powerful. To learn more, visit www.planningbootcamp.com
Both Gary Aschenbrenner & Peter Wright are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Gary Aschenbrenner has sinced written about articles on various topics from Alternative Medicine, Self Esteem and Self Improvement and Motivation. Gary has always felt that everyone “Deserves To Have It All" and his desire is to assist others in Achieving Their True Worth and having it all.. Gary Aschenbrenner's top article generates over 2400 views. to your Favourites.
Peter Wright has sinced written about articles on various topics from Strategic Planning, Self Improvement and Motivation. Peter Wright is a career strategist and President of The Planning Group. As a respected executive in the financial services industry and in his current consulting practice, Peter has successfully developed and executed business strategy with notable resu. Peter Wright's top article generates over 2400 views. to your Favourites.