Success Requires A Vision

I say in my Stairway to Business Heaven blog entry that step one is having a vision. A vision is the first necessary step to achieving maximum success. A vision is your dream, where you are headed and what your business mission looks and feels like, what it will accomplish, how big will it be. It defines your ultimate goal. Not having a vision is similar to setting out on a mission without a map. You have no directions and not a clue as to where you will end up and won’t know if you even want to be there once you arrive.

Having a dream, a vision, is having a view into the future. Once developed, there is a path to reach it. Alternatively, you can just work as hard as you can and get to wherever you may end up.

For example, Steve Jobs, the developer of the first personal computer, Apple, told his father while building his first prototype computer in the garage that he was going to make billions and change the world. He had a vision and he acted on it. Even though he was in his garage working alone on his first prototype computer, he saw the vision and eventually fulfilled it. Had his vision just been to get rich, well, he may have made millions, not billions, and may not have single-handedly changed the world as he envisioned.

The vision is your dream. It is vitally important that you have one and that you include it in your business plan. While it probably does not seem attainable from the start-up position, it gives you a target–a goal–and allows you to design a plan and chart a course that may just get you there. At least you now know what the long-term goal may be so you can build towards it. Of course, the opposite is also true. Without a vision you definitely will not arrive at any particular destination as you have no map and thus will simply wander aimlessly, making decisions that have no foundation or direction other than progressive growth.

Growth may be measured in dollars and increased revenue may occur, but how you build your business will be determined fundamentally by what your vision is. Is it billions, millions, world domination, or a one-man shop in your garage? This is not to say that just because you have a vision and design your business to reach such lofty goals that you will therefore succeed, but it is to say that without the vision such success is likely to be impossible to achieve as you wander aimlessly, building a business without a goal in mind. I might also add that while a little lofty for many, the truth is that unlikely and seemingly impossible goals are reached when one has a vision. The impossible is ignited with the power of a vision. Without such power, it is unlikely that the impossible will result from your efforts. This is the “X” factor, impossible to quantify, impossible to plan for, predict or project, but whenever such events occur it is because a vision gave birth to a miracle.

So, please, do not be afraid to dream. See your vision and march to your own drumbeat–it is loud and clear and it’s the only way to achieve the unlikely, the impossible, and to change the world again. Your vision does not have to be grand like Steve Jobs’ vision. It can be small, controllable and personally satisfying, but you must have one or you will flounder in your development process. Even if you never reach your visionary goals, having one is like a beacon lighting your path of development and shining on some level of success. In fact, if you are frustrated by your development prospects, why not do some clean slate thinking and create a new vision, one different from the current path you are on, and change your destiny? You can always have a new vision.

Can anyone do this? Absolutely, yes, anyone can dream, anyone can see the future, anyone can imagine himself successful. We all do it–it is the power of the entrepreneur, the man who dares to open a business because he has a vision to do it and and maybe will change the world again. This is not a skill reserved for the few great minds who can see into the future. Absolutely not. This is a skill we all possess and we all can call on this power and accomplish this feat, determining our own future by creating a vision and making it come true. Self-doubt is the destroyer of visions. If you can overcome self-doubt, the warrior within will emerge and miracles may occur. Unplanned, unlikely, unpredictable miracles support you reaching your vision. It happens all the time on large and small scales. That’s how athletes perform stupendous feats. That’s how the Red Sox won four games after the Yankees took the first three in the American League championship in 2004. They had a vision, they believed in it and miracles occurred.

Try it. It does work. It may be hard to understand but there are far too many examples of this power working to discount its potential. It worked for Steve Jobs, it can work for you.