You started your business with a dream and a vision.
As you get involved with the day-to-day operations, you may find yourself losing your vision. You’re so caught up in what must be accomplished, that you don’t have time to think about where you’re going. Then, before you know it, a month – then a year has flown by and you have no idea how it happened.
Is this where you are today?
I learned a long time ago to visualize my goals. When people visualize anything, it makes it much more likely for them to make it a reality. They see the vision in their heads and then take steps to make it happen.
Visualizing your goals carries through on this same concept. You paint a picture of what you would like accomplished by a certain period. When you have that picture, you can determine what is necessary to implement it.
Let’s look at how to implement goal visualization….
Dream Your Business
Do you still have your dream? You know, the dream that drove you to say “Yes” to start your business.
I understand that your dream may have changed since you started, but you should have a dream that drives you.
To gain ground on your goals, take time to dream again and visualize exactly where you want to take your business a year from now, five years from now.
Grab a journal and write your dreams down and then determine what it would take to get you there.
Now, write down what it would take to get your business to that point.
Taking Action
Once you’ve decided what it would take to accomplish your vision; set up a plan of action.
Break your goals down into actionable steps. Pick one of goals and determine when you would like to accomplish that goal. Then break your action steps down by quarter, month, week, day. Each day you should have an action that will move you closer to your goal.
Once you break down the steps to accomplish your goals, you can use other visualization tools to help you manage those steps. You may start out with a project management plan (using specialized software), or you may simply choose to keep track of your tasks in a spreadsheet. If it works for you, it is not wrong. Keep using whatever tool is working.
Keep Your Vision Alive
Have you heard about “Vision Boards”?
A “Vision Board” is a visual of your vision. This is usually a corkboard where you place things which help you piece together a problem and help with possible solutions. As you come across other items for your vision board, you can choose where to put them and decide whether you need to remove something already on the board. Again, there are no rules here. If you understand the vision, it’s the right one for you.
Mind Mapping
Are you finding it difficult to put your vision into perspective?
Using a mind map is helpful to people when trying to brainstorm. You can use dedicated software, or you can just use sheets of paper. The concept is to start in the middle of the mind-map with a principal idea or task. Then, when you think of related items, you draw out from the central area a box or text with your new thoughts, etc. You continue this process out from the center linking ideas and thoughts with lines. It helps you to see the whole plan from a bird’s eye view and makes brainstorming easier.
This concept doesn’t work for everyone. But, people who use them, swear by them.
Here’s a Mind-Map to help get your started with the process.
You can incorporate all the concepts above or use only a few. You must experiment to see which ones resonate with you. It’s a repetitive process. However, the key is not to get caught up in the process itself. Whatever means you use to visualize your goals, you need to make sure you track the progress. Otherwise, you are simply going through the motions, and you won’t accomplish much.
Are you overwhelmed with all your business responsibilities?
There are many tasks that you can easily outsource to relieve your work load. Contact me to discuss how our services can free up your time so that you can spend your time working toward your goals.