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Create Your Vision by Telling a Story There’s no time better than the beginning of a brand new year to decide what your business and your life will look like when you achieve your personal version of success. Some folks call it “having a vision”. It’s knowing where you want to be and how you’ll know when you get there. I’m sure you’ve got a vision of the ideal way you want to live your life. You’ve thought about where you want to live, how much money you want to make, the work you want to do, living your version of an ideal day – every day. You’ve thought about the cars you want to own, the trips you want to take, and the house you want to live in. Why not get that vision out of your head and put it on paper? Once it’s on paper you can look at it every day. Think about it. Edit it. Improve it. And, most important of all, make a plan to achieve it. The starting point is creating your vision. The easiest way to do that is by telling a story that fully describes that vision. You’re the main character and the folks you work with and care about are members of the supporting cast. Story telling is a great way to pass along and remember information. Long before the written word story telling was the way people shared their history, learned new things, and passed along information to others. We still tell stories today. When we hear something in story form it’s easier to remember because we create a picture in our heads that relates to the story. Even though we may not be able to remember the exact words of the story we can remember the movie we made in our heads and tell the story in our own words. We’ve all heard the saying, “Everybody loves a good story”. So – what’s your story? What will your business look like when it reaches it’s ideal? What is the annual revenue? How many customers do you have? What are the attributes of your customers? (Fun to do business with and happy to pay their bills on time, I hope.) How many employees do you have? What are their attributes? (Enthusiastic contributors to the success of your business, I hope.) Where’s your business located? What are its profits? How much money are you making? How much time do you spend working on your business? How long can you be away from your business doing other things and be confident that it will be even better when you return? What’s your personal life look like? How’s your health? How much time do you get to spend with your family? How do you spend your time with them? How much time do you take for yourself? What do you do during your “me time”? Where do you travel? How do you give back to your community? This may sound like a monumental task, but its not. You’ve got the story in your head. You’ve been accumulating bits and pieces of it all your life. It may take some time to convert it from the movie version in your head to words on paper, but it can be done. And, once it’s done, it becomes a powerful influence on your work and your life. Putting your story on paper gives it greater credibility. It is definitely worth the effort. A word about how happiness plays into this process. If you’re not happy already, you can definitely make happiness a part of your vision. Just remember that happiness is a choice. It’s not the result of obtaining stuff and achieving goals. Obtaining and achieving can be gratifying and fulfilling. Obtaining and achieving can result in contentment and peace of mind. But, they can’t bring happiness. Happiness is an inside-out thing. Choose to be happy. I wish you all extreme happiness and great success. Start by telling your story and putting it on paper. (c) 2006 Brian Silverthorn ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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