10
Create a Vision
Man is a goal-seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.
Aristotle
Our vision is our guiding light and we all need light especially at times when we feel we are in a long dark tunnel. In many ways it is a survival mechanism.
Various experiments have been conducted with mice which show that when they are placed in a bowl with no way out, they would stop swimming after 45 minutes and drown. However, if the mice had a light shining on them, they would continue to swim for 36 hours. The mice were motivated through the darkness by a vision of light. Certainly hope and optimism are huge factors with regards to resilience. In times of darkness we need to believe that there is something out there that is better and worth waking up for in the morning.
The day that I began writing this chapter was the day that Neil Armstrong died. At 82 he had lived an incredible life as a true national and international hero in the classic sense. His intellect, dedication and skills made him absolutely the best choice to be the first American and first human being to set foot on the moon in 1969 as commander of Apollo 11.
On his greatest achievement he commented:
I think we are going to the moon because it is in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It’s by the nature of his deep inner soul – we’re required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.
When Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon he also said the famous words that now define a generation: ‘One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.’
President Kennedy made a vision statement at the beginning of the 1960s for his generation. He declared that, by the decade’s end, the United States would have an American walk on the moon. This vision for the country boosted morale as well as creating a surge of growth for the neophyte space programme. With Kennedy’s vision, NASA took off and became a dominant force, with all eyes looking at the moon, wondering, ‘Can we really do it?’
When Neil Armstrong’s foot landed on the moon’s surface, it was an evolutionary step for humanity. It showed that anything is possible and it all starts with a vision.
Vision and Goals
This is from Alice in Wonderland, when Alice first encounters the Cheshire cat in Wonderland. It’s a wonderful demonstration of the fact that without goals, or any idea of what you really want or where you are going, you are a bit like Alice, wandering aimlessly throughout life.
‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’
‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to’, said the Cat.
‘I don’t much care where’, said Alice.
‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go’, said the Cat.
‘So long as I get somewhere’, Alice added as an explanation.
‘Oh, you’re sure to do that’, said the Cat, ‘If you only walk long enough.’
Your brain is a goal-seeking mechanism and your ability to set goals is your master skill because goals can unlock your positive mind and release energies and ideas for success and achievement. Without goals, you simply drift and flow on the currents of life. With goals, you fly like an arrow, straight and true to your target. Setting goals will give you direction, purpose and focus in your life.
This is your life
I think the saddest words that anyone could ever say when they look back on their life are ‘if only’. You may even catch yourself saying from time to time ‘Someday I’ll . . .’ No one will ever be rich enough to buy back their past. Life is right now and taking action and making things happen is key.
I think there is something, more important than believing: Action! The world is full of dreamers, there aren’t enough who will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to actualize their vision.
W. Clement Stone
Life balance
Looking at creating balance in your life as part of your vision is really important and too much focus on one area won’t ensure a smooth ride. The different areas in your life that you may want to consider, for example, are the different roles that you play: husband/wife, father/mother, manager, colleague, team member, sports player, community leader, or friend. Other areas of your life that are important to you may be about your attitude, creative expression, education, family, friends, financial freedom, physical challenge, pleasure, or community service. Having a balance of goals in all areas will give you a well-rounded perspective when you start creating your vision and setting yourself goals to get you to where you really want to be.
The benefits of setting goals
- Achieve clarity. Setting goals requires you to develop and gain clarity. This is the first and most important step to creating a life that you want and will help you to establish your personal vision.
- Focused energy. If you have clear goals and focus on them, you will get more of what you want and less of what you don’t want and preserve precious energy.
- Personal efficiency. When you get clear about where you want to go, you will be able to set up steps and create positive actions to get you there. This increases your efficiency because you are working on what is really important. When you work on what’s important, you will accomplish more than you ever expected.
- Increased self confidence. As you set and achieve your goals, you will become more confident in your ability to do what you say and get what you want in life. Success breeds more success and will increase your self-respect.
- Get results. Very few people have proper written goals and, according to research, people who do record their goals will accomplish so much more than those who don’t.
How to Set Goals
A common acronym in goal setting is the familiar SMART goals. SMART is used to describe what experts consider to be good goal statements because they contain most of the essential ingredients. Out of all the formulas I have come across for objective and goal-seeking, it is by far the best and the most easy to apply and stick to.
The SMART acronym has several different variations depending on who you ask. However, this is the interpretation I personally favour to keep it simple; and keepings things simple is by far the most effective way to make progress.
How to write SMART goals
Let’s take a closer look at each of these components.
Specific
Your SMART goal plan needs to be a clear and specific statement of what you want. The main reason is that your brain behaves as a goal-seeking mechanism, similar to a precision guided missile. As these missiles fly, they continually make small adjustments and corrections to their trajectories to realign themselves to their target.
Your brain also works in a similar way. Dr Maxwell Maltz, author of the classic Psycho-Cybernetics, said that human beings have a built-in, goal-seeking ‘success mechanism’ that is part of the subconscious mind. This success mechanism is constantly searching for ways to help us reach our targets and find answers to our problems. According to Maltz, we work and feel better when our success mechanism is fully engaged going after clear targets. All we have to do to use this mechanism is to give it a specific target. Without one, our success mechanism lies dormant, or worse, pursues targets we didn’t consciously choose. When your target is vague or ambiguous, your success mechanism can become confused and either shut down or go after the wrong target.
Measurable
There is an old saying, ‘What gets measured gets done’. Making your goal measurable helps you see your progress, recognize if you are moving in the right direction, and see how far you still need to go. Some types of goals, like saving a certain amount of money each month, or reading ten pages a day, or reducing your calorie intake, are very easy to measure, while other goals are not always measurable directly.
For example, if your goal is to improve your relationship with one of your colleagues, how do you measure it? One option is to use some sort of rating. For example, you could say that your relationship is a 6 and your goal is to make it an 8. The problem is that these types of ratings are very subjective, can change from day to day, and don’t really give you very good feedback. A better option would be to focus your goal on specific actions that you can take that will help you achieve your overall objective.
Achievable
This means that the goal really must be achievable and that doesn’t mean easy! You just need to make sure that you have a reasonable expectation of achieving it. For short-term targets, your probability of achieving the goal must be at least 80%. Longer term targets could be more of a stretch and have less probability of success because you have more time to develop your skills to achieve it. For your five to ten year vision, you can go for something really big, even if you currently have no idea how to accomplish it.
Recorded
It is really important that you record your goal, writing down exactly what you specifically want to achieve, why you want to achieve it and how you will measure it. Keep the recorded goals visible so you can remind yourself frequently of what you are hoping to achieve. Something that I did a while ago was to create a visionary board, which is a collage of visual images. At the time, I was targeting ten companies that I admired that I really wanted to work with around modern life skills. I have now had experience of working with eight out of ten of them! Another thing to do, which is fun, is to cut out pictures from a magazine with images of things that you want to cultivate into your life: positive images to remind you what you want to achieve.
Timed
For goals that have a natural ending (like outcome goals), establishing a clear deadline for them adds an element of urgency and motivation. The danger if you don’t put a time limit on something is that you will keep making excuses.
All goals must be trackable so you can see what your progress is, either in terms of results you are experiencing, or actions you are taking. Tracking your goals helps you determine if you are going in the right direction and make any necessary adjustments along the way. So you see, just like a precision guided missile!
Achieving Goals
When you have achieved a goal, take the time to enjoy the satisfaction of having done so. Absorb the implications of the goal achievement, and observe the progress you have made towards other goals. If the goal was a significant one, reward yourself! All of this helps you to create your personal vision and build the life you deserve!
With the experience of having achieved this goal, review the rest of your goal plans and ask yourself the following questions:
- Have I achieved the goal too easily? If so, make your next goal more challenging and stretching.
- Has my goal taken a dispiriting length of time to achieve? If so, make the next goal a little less challenging and stretching.
- Have I learnt something that would lead me to change my other goals? If that is the case, do so.
- Have I noticed a deficit in my skills and do I need to set further goals to fix this?
Failure to meet goals does not matter much, as long as you learn from it and it is an opportunity to feed lessons learned back into your goal-setting programme. Remember, too, that your goals will change as time goes on. Adjust them regularly to reflect the growth in your knowledge and experience; and if goals do not hold any attraction any longer, then let them go. You don’t have to wear them like a straitjacket!
Goals at work
In the western business world, it is now very common for employees to take a more active role with their manager in creating their own personal and career development plans. When I first encountered this many years ago, the emphasis was more on my training and development and it didn’t really involve setting a work goal of any consequence. Empowering individuals in the workplace to become more accountable is now regarded as an essential motivator, and quite rightly so in my view. Engaging people at this fundamental level makes great business sense.
How to Create Your Vision and Make It Happen
Well, let’s face it: knowledge is a wonderful thing; however, the real power in knowledge is making things happen. Here are a few things that you can do to keep you on track.
- Share your vision with someone close to you, a family member, a close friend, or someone at work who will support you. The moment you share your dreams with other people, you are putting commitment into them and you will have no other choice but to achieve them. A bit like a second conscience.
- Visualize and affirm your goal every morning as soon as you wake up and right before you go to bed. Many people fail to do this because they think that this does not work. If you do this, you will begin to activate your intention positively and you will motivate yourself by visualizing the achievement of your goals. Put your written goals or visionary board/picture beside your bed so that you can look at it before you sleep and after you wake up.
- Take at least three action steps each and every day to make sure that you move closer toward what you want in your life. If you are serious in making your dreams come true, you must take consistent action every day.
- Make it happen because there are three types of people in life. Those that make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened!
Remember, it is what you do after you create your vision that will determine your success. It is all about getting things done and, as long as you take the necessary action, you will achieve results.
It is so easy to give up sometimes; however, persistence is closely linked with discipline, and one feeds off and supports the other in accomplishing your goals.
The classic speech that Winston Churchill made on 29 October, 1941 to the boys at Harrow School encapsulates the determination required in challenging times.
Never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
Persistence and determination are what will keep you going in times of confusion, or when things are not going the way you want them to. Your persistent drive will be the clear knowledge of what you really want out of life, what matters to you and having a purpose that you can be proud and motivated about. This indeed is the light at the end of the tunnel!
Certainly life can be very challenging and it does seem that some people have more than their fair share of pain to deal with. However, remember it is all relative and, throughout your lifetime, it is inevitable that you will all have to cope with some form of loss and trauma.
Being resilient takes effort and practice. It may well feel sometimes as if you are taking one step forwards and two steps back, almost as if you are doing a little dance with life. The key, however, is to keep moving and not to lose the faith that you can and will pull through if you remain positive and hopeful. The quicker that you can recover and bounce back the better, because life can pass so quickly and this is your golden opportunity to make the best and the most of it.
I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine.
Neil Armstrong
Create a visionary board by following the steps below:
- Get some scissors, glue and some old magazines.
- Create a collage on a piece of coloured card of visual images that represent what you want to achieve in your life.
- Look at it every day and begin to live your vision.