Live The Boss Life -- Create Visions, Not Dreams Part 2

Live The Boss Life -- Create Visions, Not Dreams Part 2

This is part two of a post titled "Create Visions, Not Dreams." Read it here to get started.

OK, caught up? Good. It’s essential to create vision and not dreams when planning to “Live the Boss Life.” It's much easier to create dreams than it is visions, because dreams ignore all the hard work it took to be a success.

So how do you create a vision?

1. Get a goal in mind.

Goals are probably the most important part of your vision, because you need to have an end to achieve through your means. Fortunately it’s also the easiest part. You want to work in government, lose 20 pounds or run a marathon, here’s where you lock in that goal.

2. Research your path

A lot of people get achieve part one of their vision and ignore step two, which is supremely important. You have to research your path that will allow you to arrive at your goal. Research is important because it tells you (a) if there actually is a path to your goal and (b) how other people have reached this goal.

Let’s say that you want to play centerfield for the New York Yankees. That is step one of your vision. However you are 45 years old. You are unauthentic. You are female. Chances are quite good, barring a miracle of God and science; you will not be taking that field on opening day.

But if you’re that same person, and you want to be the manager of your unit at your company, there is a path to get there. Maybe your manager finished four years of college and you only finished two. Maybe the manager has successfully reached her sales goal eight quarters in a row before her promotion. Maybe the manager personally lobbied her manager to give her a chance, and when she got that chance, she brought a fresh perspective that made everyone around her better.

Finishing the degree, achieving your sales numbers, lobbying the manager, and doing your best at the one shot you have. That’s the path.

Remember, people who forget this step do so at their own peril. They are possibly risking a world of disappointment and unhappiness.

A young man wants to be an investment banker. However, he never studied the required courses in college. He did not achieve the GPA in college most firms demand. He never got an internship that opened any doors for him. And anytime he did get an interview, he did not speak the same language as the interviewer because he had no real exposure to that world. In hindsight, we can see why he failed to reach his goal. Maybe there was no path for this young man, or maybe his plan wrong from the start.

So to “Live the Boss Life” first get a goal, then plan a path to achieve it.   

Next time, we’ll go over more of the “Create Visions, Not Dreams” theory. Stay tuned!