Thank goodness January is over! It can be so heartbreaking to start with resolutions built on need to, have to, should do, shouldn’t do, etc. etc. Hopefully those incompletions and resentments from the past have fallen away as they typically do.  No, I don’t hate January, I love it.  But I especially love the fresh start when I am inspired by possibility.

Now the question is:
What do you REALLY want? What is your heart’s desire?

If you could have your leadership and life look exactly the way you want, what would that be? If this year were the best year of YOUR LIFE, what would you see happening? What would it feel like?

Why Have a Vision?
Leadership is an inside job. What will you stand for in your work and life? Without a vision, it’s like going on a journey but not knowing where you’re headed, no destination. How will you know when you have arrived? How will you adjust course when you need to? How will you know not to give up or get discouraged because you’re still “driving” but haven’t arrived? It can serve as a pin on the map of possibility. Your vision can be like a GPS, saying turn around when possible.

• A vision acts like a magnet pulling us forward.
• It acts as a compass helping us determine which choices and actions to take. Here’s the thing: There are no neutral choices! They either lead us toward our vision or away from it. (Debbie Ford)
• Walter Bennis said: “Leadership is the capacity to translate Vision into Reality. Vision naturally leads us to the right actions and behaviors.
• When we are looking toward the future, we are no longer reliving the past and recreating it through making the same comfortable choices over and over. We are choosing behaviors and taking actions that are possibility based. We easily see which behaviors when consistently used, will most likely lead us in the direction we want.
• “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
• Set the pin on the map and focus our attention in that direction consistently and the possibility is astounding.
• Focusing on possibility gives us strength and courage. It inspires us to get out of the well worn pathways of old habits, old personality traits, worn out ways of being and thinking that we yearn to let go of. The latest neuroscience shows clearly that it’s so much easier to fall into habit than forge a new path. However, it’s possible to let go of outdated ways of thinking and seeing the world, and it is a sure fire way to get what you really want, that until now, you haven’t been willing to go for!

Leadership is an inside job! The greatest gift we have been given is the gift of choice. What are you choosing?

Next Steps:

2015: What do you want in your Life and Leadership?

• Make your vision real! Write it out in detail, in present tense, as though it has already happened.
• Post your Vision and read it daily.
• Determine what values are important to you. What will you stand for? Click here to find your values.
• Determine 1-3 behaviors that when consistently performed, will naturally lead you toward your vision. Incorporate your top 3-5 values daily.
• Start taking action and check in frequently to course correct as necessary.

Let me know how you are doing!