I wanted to zero in on a really important and very neglected topic this week – your vision or “Where are you headed?”

Every week I work with about 250 business owners and I always ask the question, “How many of you are clear about the future picture for your business?” The response is fairly consistent. Less than 10 per cent raise their hand in confirmation that they have some clarity. This is not enough in my opinion.

Now I don’t know how many of you have a GPS system, but have you ever tried to use it without setting the destination first? Not very useful is it? And yet, this is exactly how many of us run our businesses! So, this week I want to give you a simplified structure to help you get some clarity on your vision for the future.

The first thing I want to bring your focus to is letting go of trying to work out the difference between a vision and a mission. We could explore conflicting definitions all week! The key is creating a compelling picture of you and your business some time into the future and then start moving towards it.

I say ‘some time into the future’ because you can do this several times to create different pictures at different stages in your future. I always recommend starting with the next 12 months because it is the easiest to get some clarity on. If you’ve already got that, then try 3 years out or 5 years out. If you’re up for the challenge, try 30 years out!

Anyway, the starting point is you and your values. What’s important to you? What do you value most? What criteria do you use to make decisions and determine what action to take? These are your values, your internal checklist by which you ultimately judge everything. To articulate your values most effectively you need to turn them into ‘verbs’ or ‘doing words’ as I remember them.

For example, while integrity and commitment are great nouns, better statements around these words are ‘I will always follow through on the promises I make’ (integrity) and ‘I will always represent the company in a positive way and contribute to making it better’ (commitment). List your top seven values as action statements. Explore some of the values of the businesses you most respect out there in the business world for ideas.

Second, explore your purpose. What do you stand for? What makes you get up in the morning? What juices you up? Why do you do what you do? Why did you get into this business? What do you want to be remembered for? These questions are designed to explore your purpose, your reason for being. Mine is “To bring people together to create new possibilities for their business and their life” and it is at the heart of everything I do. Take 10 minutes right now to jot some thoughts down. It took me two years to get my purpose absolutely clear!

Third, now project yourself into the future. In our case, we’re moving 12 months ahead. You’ve achieved what you set out to achieve. The stars all aligned, the lights turned green, and you succeeded! Describe the picture. What are you doing on a daily basis? What are others doing around you? What’s your bank balance like? What’s you balance (between work and life) like? How many sales have you made? What are the sights and sounds in your business? How many people do you have working for you? How do you feel having had a fantastic 12 months? What have you achieved in both business and personally?

It’s important to take time to explore each of the steps I have outlined fully. They will form the compelling picture that will ultimately pull you and your team through the day to day! I do this exercise with everyone I work with because without it, it’s impossible to choose the right map in your GPS system to get you to where you want to go faster.

Do the exercise and write it down. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just a start to get you clearer on where you’re headed!

Build massive momentum!