Leadership Vision – Chicken, Egg and Goals

Hello Leaders! Well, I just finished up a weeks worth of podcasts where I talked about vision. Vision is so important for everyone, especially leaders. Vision helps you get clarity, find your purpose, achieve your goals, and get more focused on your daily tasks, … and to push you to achieve things you may have only dreamt about.

This is a quick summary of what I talked about in episode #295 of Run To Your Leadership Challenges, and I hope it makes you think a little differently about how closely connected your dreams, goals and vision are.

So have you ever heard the phrase “What comes first, the chicken or the egg?”… Well, I want to explain how Goals and Vision (and dreams) can ask a similar question.

How would you answer the question: What comes first, the goals (and dreams) or the vision?

Many people would automatically say the vision comes before the goals, and I would agree with them; however,

• What if you don’t have a clear vision?

• Can you set goals without a clear vision?

• Can your goals uncover your true vision?

How about your dreams? Do they come before or after your vision? I would say your dreams come before your vision and goals, but could they come after?

• What if you discover new dreams after your vision is established?

• What if your goals lead you down a alternate path?

• Could dreams be birthed from your vision?

So, what if you use your goals to establish your vision, much like what we discussed on episode #292 of Run To Your Leadership Challenges about writing your dreams down with specific details?

What if we allow our goals to lead us to our true vision?

Let me give you a quick example: When I started my coaching business, many people were telling me I had to niche down… pick a specific avatar, and spend the bulk of my time marketing only to that avatar.

However, I couldn’t decide who I wanted to coach, so basically, I set goals for my business, and started coaching anyone who wanted to be coached. It was kinda weird, as I coached everyone from young college students, to barbers, to executives, to mid-level leaders, to non-leaders.

As time passed a funny thing happened; my avatar started becoming clearer by the day. Today, I know exactly who I love coaching, and that is leaders who are very directive and a bit overbearing… leaders who have challenges and conflict within their team. This is who I love working for!

If an organization has conflict and communication challenges, man, I’m the person you want coming in to work with you, because I truly “Run To YOUR Challenges” with you, and together, we get things fixed!

So, although I didn’t know my vision clearly in the beginning, my goals have allowed my vision and purpose to become evident.

The same thing has occurred with my dreams, to a point. I listed a bunch of life-long dreams out what I started developing my vision statement; however, as I have grown my business, I have established new dreams, that I didn’t even think about in the beginning.

So, I writing this today to encourage you… if you’re stuck today with trying to figure out what your vision is, don’t fret! Instead, start establishing clear goals for the next 3-4 months and bust your tail to achieve those goals.

Write down your dreams, and start formulating your vision. As you begin to move towards your vision, be open-minded to new goals and dreams. You have permission to alter and change your goals and have new dreams.

You see, ALL Goals (and dreams) will lead you to your true vision eventually. Your goals may take you on a winding bumpy road at times, but eventually, your vision will become clear as a bright sunny day.

Hey, if you enjoy this blog, you’ll enjoy listening to my daily 2-minute leadership podcast. You can find it anywhere you can find podcasts (iTunes, iHeartRADIO, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, Amazon Alexa, and on Google). You can also find direct links on my website.

Have a great day thinking about your dreams, goals, and vision, and don’t get hung up on what order they come to light… just go with it and start writing things down.

Until next time, Run To Your Challenges!

For more info, please contact Paul directly at [email protected] or via phone at 501-743-5614.