vision

How to Stick to Your Vision

We all have a vision for our future — a vague (or maybe not-so-vague) picture of how we want life to be. The vision likely involves a specific living situation, a lifestyle, a career and personal relationships. A nice house and a healthy salary and a smiling family, perhaps. A vision of success.

We all have a vision, but not everyone will see it become a reality. In fact, many people won’t even try.

It’s a sad truth I’ve seen time and time again among sales executives I’ve worked with. They know what they want to accomplish, but they simply aren’t willing to show up and do what needs to be done to get there. They have a vision, but they’re not setting the goals to achieve it.

I’ve found that there are two main reasons people fail: They either have unrealistic expectations, or they’re getting stuck behind internal roadblocks that are holding them back. Either way, they get burnt out quickly, and they find themselves languishing in a stagnant state rather than moving toward their goals. They may decide that the future they’ve dreamed of is nothing more than a pipe dream, and they settle into a life of disgruntled mediocrity.

The truth is, you’ve got to work to reach your goals. You’ve got to work to even stay focused on your vision. If you’re not willing to put in the effort, you will not move forward. It’s as simple as that.

I love this quote from Bobby Knight: “Everybody wants to be on a national championship team, but nobody wants to come to practice.” Say what you will about the fiery basketball coach, but he knows a thing or two about achieving goals. It takes practice. It takes work.

Basketball and real estate may not have a lot in common, but this perspective applies perfectly here. Every realtor wants to sell a lot of houses, but nobody wants to prospect for hours each day. The thing is, you have to do it. You have to prospect and contact clients. If you don’t do that, you won’t sell houses.

There’s a profound disconnect with a lot of people who struggle to figure out what they really want — and then to accept that they have to pay a price to achieve it. Even those who know the behaviors necessary to reach their goals simply may not be willing to repeat them consistently. And that’s a one-way path to failure.

If you want to see your vision become a reality, don’t let it fade from your mind. Keep it firmly in your headlights, and stay steady on the road that will take you there. Do that, and one day your vision will become real life.

If you need some help in turning your vision into reality, check out a copy of my book, The Reward of Knowing.