The Difference Between Vision and Goal Setting… And Why You Need Both To Be Successful

“Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe.” ~Oprah Winfrey

This is the most recited quote ever from Oprah and I’ve always loved it.

It’s simple and speaks clearly to all that is possible when you allow yourself the opportunity to create a vision for your life that is so grand it almost feels like a dream.

For me personally, visioning doesn’t come easily. I recently was tasked with creating a vision for my business and my life, and I found that for me… it just doesn’t come naturally. In fact, it didn’t come at all.

In trying to figure out the visioning process I did extensive research and talked to other business owners in my industry as a way of getting clarity.

My findings led me to a major breakthrough on many levels and I now see why it’s so important to not only set goals but to have a vision as well.

Today I’m sharing my findings so you too can develop a success strategy for you, your business and your life.

First let’s talk about the difference between a vision and a goal and how they work in tandem with one another as the ultimate success plan.

Simply put, a vision is the destination and

goals are the steps that get you there.

Goal setting comes naturally to me. It’s a major component of my core philosophy. Goals keep me on track so I always achieve what I set out to accomplish.

I am extremely practical and analytical which is why visioning is difficult for me. Visioning felt too ‘pie-in-the-sky’ for me.

Most people that I encounter on a daily basis are great at visioning but lack skills in goal setting.

They have no problem creating a vision or dreaming big but don’t have any idea what steps need to be taken to reach their vision, (destination).

Have you ever met someone that is always sharing their “next big idea” with you and you silently wonder to yourself, ‘what happened to your last big idea’?

That’s exactly what I’m talking about.

Whether you are great at visioning and lack goal-setting skills or if you’re like me and are great at goal setting but struggle with creating a vision for your life, without both working together you will find it difficult to create a successful business and life.

Here’s a great visual analogy for this topic…

Let’s say you are getting married in six months and it’s time to order your “perfect” wedding cake.

The vision you’ve always had for your wedding cake includes multiple tiered cakes, connected by a trickling water feature, creamy white frosting and a custom bride and groom figurine on top.

As you can imagine, there are many steps, (goals), along the way that will lead to turning your vision into reality.

For instance…

What flavor is the cake?

Do you want the frosting to taste like almond or vanilla?

Do you want the water feature to have backlighting?

How many people will it feed?

Who will order the figurine?

Each one of those steps, (and a million more), lead to realizing the “perfect” wedding cake your vision started with.

See how that works? You start with a vision and then you determine the goals that will get you there.

So now it’s your turn. What is your vision for your life and/or your business?

Take the time to get crystal clear on what that looks like.

For me, I realized it’s not about a certain number of sales in my business. It’s about a feeling I want to cultivate that leads to mutual value and appreciation between my clients and me.

Living and working in that environment will lead me to one of my visions of being able to take my entire family on an all expense paid Caribbean cruise.

In doing the hard work, beating my head against the wall for weeks I realized that my life vision includes more family time and more family memories. What it doesn’t include is focusing only on sales and income numbers.

Right now I’m in the process of identifying the steps I’ll need to take to make that happen. In a nutshell, my true lifestyle freedom business.

Your next steps:

· Create a vision board, (Pinterest is great for this), of what you want your life to look like in 5 years… this is your destination.

· Take into account your personal growth, what you want your business to look like and where family and friends fit into the equation.

· Now grab a piece of paper and write down the steps it will take to get there.

· Once you know the steps create a timeline for each step.

· Most important thing to remember… allow for flexibility. You’ve established your destination but more than likely that will be somewhat of a moving target. As your experience and knowledge base grows so will your vision. That’s a good thing.

It’s time for you to take this information and adopt a vision/goal setting plan for your life and coaching business.

It’s amazing how productive and clear you can be when you work through this process.

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