"A vision without a task is but a dream,
a task without a vision is drudgery,
a vision and a task is the hope of the world"
-"Transcultural Leadership" by Simons,
Vasquez, & Harris

I had recently revised a book I started a book to plan out the year of 2003 for my business endeavors. It's a rather plain spiraled notebook. The kind you can purchase in the store for 50 cents. Nothing special. But what it contains is special. It reaffirms the "vision" for my newsletter.

To me, a avid student of Leadership, it seems automatic to start with a vision. However, I realize that this simple, yet important step, is often overlooked.

But what is this 'vision' of which I speak? One definition used in the Merriam-Webster's dictionary is 'something seen in a dream, trance, or ecstasy'.

But is this what I am speaking of? No.

There is another type of 'vision' that is more closely relates to your physical vision. Your physical vision allows you to see the world that is around you. It is something firm, by which you can guide your steps. If you want to walk out of a room, you simply use your sense of sight, find the doorway, and fix your eyes in front of you. You know where your going, and using your sight, or vision, you map out a way there, avoiding stumbling blocks. With your goal in sight, you don't walk to the left or the right. You head straight for the door. So it is with your personal or business' 'vision'.

First a vision allows you to be GOAL ORIENTED. Just as you set the goal that you wanted to exit the door, you must first make a firm set of goals for yourself. When it comes down to setting a goal, many find it difficult. They find that they don't have a firm location in life they want to be. Saying you "want to make money on the internet" is not a true goal. It's too vague. It's like having burry vision and trying to exit the room. You can easily become confused or disoriented- trekking into unfamiliarly territory with blurry vision. Every shape is unknown, and not clearly seen. You could walk around in a large room for a long time, not knowing where your going, if the shapes and layout of the room is unknown.

All the while you're wasting time, bumping into things, and possible hurting yourself. Many writer's who just want 'to be published' have a string of unfinished books from all genre backgrounds. To be successful you must know where you are going, or you won't go anywhere at all. There are simply too many distractions in this world for you to bump into and waste time and money on.

Next, a vision allows you to be PURPOSEFUL. Once you've decided that you wanted to exit the room, you choose the best way to fulfill this goal (i.e.- should you use the door or the window?). From then on, every step takes you closer to where you wanted to be. Your vision clearly allows you to see obstacles, and how to avoid them. True, there maybe a toy on the floor you didn't see. It may cause you to stumble. But if you did, would you stay on the ground and say 'Aw, I'm stumbled. Now I'll never get to the door'? Or would you get up, recover and move on to the doorway?

Without PURPOSEFUL steps, or goal-oriented task fulfilling, your vision will be a dream, because you'll be looking at it from behind, as you walk away. Every step would take you one step away.

Without knowing where you are going, every step seems the hardest, for there is no GOAL in sight. Why work if you don't know what you are working towards? To succeed in anything you must know what you want. The richest, wisest, and most famous person in the world can be unsuccessful, empty and unfilled. Why should they be proud? If they had no pre-set standard, no goal by which to measure all they have, it will be worth nothing.

So now, from today, take a book, and write down your vision. You'll be taking the first step to true success.

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