Impotent Goals or Meaningful Vision?

In business building (and getting clients) it seems to be that most recruiting firm owners  just hope for the best.
 
They simply keep doing what they've been doing and don't have a strategy for creating the practice they'd be truly and deeply happy with. This is a huge mistake in my opinion. 

I used to write down my goals each year, but while mildly effective I would lose focus on them after a few months or even weeks. They didn't seem to propel me in motion and so I kind of viewed them as being useless. I looked at them from time to time, but didn't always hit them because they were sometimes things I thought I wanted rather than "really-meaningful desires." 

Then in 1998 I came across the concept of creating a ten year vision.  I coach my clients on doing 3 year visions-- in today's twitter world--  instead of just a list of goals for the upcoming year. This visioning wasn't just about my recruiting business goals,

but also family, financial, spiritual, and relationship goals. It became a "holistic" way of looking at what you wanted in your life. All the pieces looked like they would work together, but only because you were compelled to make it all work together, which was the first time I'd done that in such depth. 

The coolest thing about visioning 3 years out came to me after I started doing this regularly. I noticed that ONE year goals were never too much of a stretch. They seemed like timid goals, goals that didn't really get me excited. But having to create a vision of what 3 years down the line would look like allowed me to REALLY think BIG.
 
Inhibitions dropped. My creative side started going and I really took time to see, "Hey, what WOULD I want my life to look like in 3 years, if I could have time to create it?"  
 
The 3 year vision was a way for me to create something to strive for that REALLY was a desireable clear picture. After I read it, it seemed very plausible and I could "feel" it in my gut. It was REAL and it was exciting to have that life that I outlined.  I was excited to get going, honestly, it was a bit of a stretch to grow the type of recruiting firm I wanted.  My "dream" model was different than 99% of the firms out there.

Now THAT life and that recruiting firm would (and did) propel me into motion the way a yearly list of goals wouldn't be able to do.   The beauty of this is that every business decision you make, you can hold back up to your vision.  Is the decision in alignment and does it help me get closer to what I outlined? 
 
So, each year, around year end, I create a 3-year vision of what I want my business  to look like. I write it in the present tense, as if it were 3 years later. For example, this past year I wrote mine during the past holiday break, as if it was year end, 2011 and I talked in depth about all the things that had happened since 2008. All the things I'd accomplished in my recruiting business, with my finances, my investments, my family, and myself over the "last 3 years," which obviously hadn't actually happened yet. 

Such a cool exercise and it really gets the blood flowing when you read it back to yourself, now and over the year.

You see, I've figured out that it's not just about goals. Yes, goals are important, but the way I look at it, it's about focusing on what you REALLY want for your life, not the "shoulds." It's also about putting into effect the Law of Attraction in a big way. When you know what you want for your life, when you can imagine it with passion and feel what it feels like to have it, it's almost guaranteed to come to you. 

Now, it's YOUR turn. Sometime this week, create a 3-year vision dated three years from now. Your 3-year vision must be one that will literally PULL you into your future, will stretch you just a little bit, and make you perspire a little because you are not sure how you are going to get their.  This is a key point.  Set the vision without being clear on the "HOW" just yet.  The HOW will come. 

Make your 3-year vision very specific, realistic, and a big STRETCH (that's what's going to move you forward quicker than you would if you didn't have it). If you're right brained, use bullet points for categories such as business, finances, personal, family, spiritual, fun, health, etc. If you're left-brained, then write freely, and remember to keep it all grounded in the specific, with lots of MEASURABLES and TANGIBLES thrown in there so you can keep track of your progress over the next 3 years (that's what I do).

Be sure to write in the present tense as if it were 3 years from now... If it doesn't intimidate you just a little bit or get your mind racing, then it's probably not enough of a stretch. 
 
 I love this quote and it is perfectly appropriate here:
 
        "Drive thy business or it will drive thee." 
                                 Benjamin Franklin
 
By the way, I just looked back to last year's 3-year vision and I was SHOCKED to see how many of the goals in my 3-year vision I'd already achieved in just a little over a year. This stuff really works!!