Ready, Set, Go! Put Your Vision into Action

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Let’s face it – creating a vision and developing a strategy does not assure that anything is going to change.

Change is going to come about by taking very specific actions on a routine basis. In other words, you have to do something different in order to make your vision come true.  (Uh-oh.  Sounds like work!)

Here are some of the things I have discovered happen when people don’t include the action plan to support their vision and their strategies.

• They look outside themselves for the reason they are falling short of their vision. In other words, they start blaming others or keep searching for the elusive solution for happiness.
• And when that happens, they think that by changing the environment (their job, their spouse, their neighborhood, their church and such) that they will be happier.

 I think we all know of people – and perhaps at one time or another it has been us — that keep waiting for our circumstances to change so that we can create the life we want.   And then when circumstances change – we’re still where we were.

Without taking the steps necessary to live your vision, chances are you will come up short no matter what other changes you make in your life. As the old saying goes: “If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always got.”

Make the choice.  Do something different.  And if you need support, give me a call!

Strategies and SMART Goals

So we’ve talked about the elements of a solid vision a couple blog posts ago.  The next step towards fulfilling it is to develop the strategies that you will need to put into place in order to reach your vision.

Strategies  are broad action statements that help you reach your vision.

They can include things like:

• Have more vitality
• Communicate more authentically
• Become a better leader
• Pay off my debt and create a stronger financial plan
• Develop a business that is financially rewarding and one that utilizes my talents and gifts

 Strategies are broad in nature, but are made into goals by making them measurable and specific.  You may have heard of SMART goals.

SMART is an acronym for

• Specific  — clear and well defined
• Measurable – how will you know if you are on track or off track
• Attainable – like your vision, the strategies are attainable
• Realistic – they may exceed your reach, but not your grasp
• Time-bound – Although the strategies may be on-going, there are benchmarks that you will want to achieve in order to confirm that you are on-track – and give yourself a little reward.

Here’s an example, broken down.

• Change your strategy ”To have more vitality” into this:
• Over the next 6 months, I will develop more vitality by losing 18 pounds and exercising 5x per week by walking for 30 minutes.

The strategy then becomes SMART! It is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, and Realistic and Time-bound.

How about another strategy: “Pay off my debt.”

Make it SMART by changing it just a bit:

• Over the next 18 months, I will reduce my debt to only house payments by paying $500 per month and not accruing additional credit card debt.

 Once again, this re-wording makes the strategy a SMART one: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound.  Making SMART goals is the first step in really committing to making your vision a reality. 

So … get SMART!

Barriers to Creating a New Vision

I received a question regarding resistance to creating a vision:  “Ann, as much as I talk about wanting to advance and create something new, I don’t seem to do it beyond some daydreaming of what I’d do with more money.  Do you have any thoughts?”  So rather than write about setting goals, I thought I’d address this person’s question.

Creating a vision that advances you is about intentionally creating change.  And it’s a simple fact that as much as we say we want things to be different, at the same time, we want the things in our lives to remain familiar and stable.  Many of us  strive to create routine in our lives, and make our world as predictable as possible.  Routine and predictability make us feel safe, secure and in control. 

Because of our desire for predictability, we can often be resistant to change.  The status quo feels more comfortable and we are reluctant to stretch ourselves, try new things and take risks.

Oddly, even though we are so adverse to change, we are constantly in a state of change. Our bodies are changing, technology forces us to change, the people around us are changing, and our life circumstances are constantly changing.

Even the most courageous can feel some hesitancy at embracing a new identity or accepting a new challenge in our lives, especially if we are uncertain of how well we will survive or successfully navigate the change.  After all, no one wants to fail.  

Creating a vision from a purposeful place (with real goals and action steps) is different than daydreaming (“when I win the lottery, I will …”).  Notice and acknowledge your resistance, and accept that it is a normal reaction – and that will help you to better manage it.

Elements of a Solid Vision

Creating your world begins with documenting a vision.  Steven Covey, in his classic book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, describes this process as beginning with the end in mind.  The starting point is the end, where you want to finish. 

Often when asked what we want for our life, we offer generic thoughts such as “I want to be happy,” “to be my own boss” or “have a good job” which are certainly things we want… but they are so vague it would be hard to make day to day decisions or be inspired based upon these visions.  There are 6 dimensions of a vision that will lead you closer toward fulfillment:

1. Imaginable – it should paint a picture in your mind
2. Desirable – it should be what you want for your life – not what someone else wants – in order for you to feel satisfied as you move towards it
3. Feasible – it needs to be within reason… it would be hard for me to become an opera singer!
4. Focused – it must be clear enough that you will know when you are on course and when you are not
5. Flexible – while focused, it must also be general enough to allow alternative responses in light of changing conditions… we can’t always predict the shape of conditions
6. Integrated – it should integrate both work and life … when we only do a vision for one portion of our life, we end up with a life that is out of balance. 

When you have all six of these elements in your vision, you next want to work on be able to communicate your vision in a short period of time.  By communicating your vision, you invite others to join with you or to at least be more understanding when you go in a different direction.

In my next article, I will share some examples of how to create strategies and actions that support a solid vision.

By the way, if you’d like to connect in person on this topic, come join me at when I speak as part of the Key Collective in Chicago on Creating Your Business Plans: Visioning & Goal Setting.  When you register enter ANN101, you will get 70 dollars off!  You can find out more about this event at www.thehumanconnectionbykey.eventbrite.com – hope to see you there!

Forget Resolutions – Get a Vision!

Every year people write resolutions… mostly personal, but also work related:  “I’m going to be more focused and manage my time better,” “I’m going to blog more,” “I’m going to cycle back to my old friends and colleagues and renew those connections,” “I’m going to exercise more,” etc.  I relate to these…in fact, these are all things that I want to do!

But I’ve found resolutions are a waste of time if I don’t dig deeper into what will motivate me to do these things and create a plan for doing so.

If a poll was taken of most people, it would reveal that:

1. The life they lead is a result of happenstance – and not planning
2. Where they are in life is a result of what other people wanted for them and less of what they want for themselves
3. And, most sadly, there is a sense of discontent and a feeling of something lacking in their lives. Most people feel that they were designed for something greater than what they are accomplishing.

The solution to all of this is to take those resolutions a step further and create your world by design.  There are three elements to making this happen:

1. Creating a vision that integrates work and life
2. Identifying the strategies that will help lead toward that vision
3. Developing routine actions that will carry you toward that vision

One of my greatest joys in working with clients is creating these three elements.  So many of us start it backwards… we develop actions or resolutions (“I’m going to network more”) without having a vision and a plan that allows us to create the structures that make it happen.  And it leads to failure, frustration and endless New Year’s Resolutions that rarely get implemented.

My next post will be on the first of the three elements: creating a vision that integrates work and life. 

By the way, if you’d like to connect in person on this topic, come join me at when I speak as part of the Key Collective in Chicago on Creating Your Business Plans: Visioning & Goal Setting.  When you register enter ANN101, you will get $70 off!  You can find out more about this event at www.thehumanconnectionbykey.eventbrite.com – hope to see you there!