I have a fondness for architecture. Mostly, I’m into the mid-century modern stuff. I’m fascinated with the simplicity of the aesthetic look, yet there is an element of functionality that usually exists in the mid-century style too. What amazes me most about architecture, of any style, is that it all begins from an image within someone’s mind, and the architect puts that image to paper to start making it a reality.

Mid-Century Style

Just like building a functional but nice to look a home, I believe that having a vision is essential to achieving peak performance. If you don’t know what you are setting out to do and can’t see what success looks like, then your journey may never feel complete. If you lack purpose, then what’s the point? Vision is where a journey in performance enrichment all begins!

A vision starts with knowing who you are, where you’re currently at, where you want to go, and why you want to go there. Knowing who you are requires some serious introspection. This step has a huge impact on creating a vision. If there is a disconnect between who you are as a person and the vision you’re establishing for yourself, then you will struggle to achieve anything. If you do end up achieving small milestones despite the disconnect, you probably won’t feel much satisfaction. Ah, but there’s a twist. If you build your vision based on who you are, you’ll be more likely to feel satisfaction all throughout your journey, even during the trialing times and possible failures. You’ll find joy in the process.

So what does a vision look like? I like to think of a vision as a statement that embodies how I want to ultimately feel. Many people think of a vision with a very specific and tangible destination in mind. I want to win a championship. I want to have the highest sales for the year. I want four kids. But those are only accomplishments, and if you choose those as your vision, you will feel like you have failed if they don’t come to be a reality. Try not to think of the extrinsic rewards as what actually drives us. What drives us is feelings.

It is a dream of mine to own my own business. My personal vision involves feeling and experiencing creativity, autonomy, altruism and a sense of value to others. These are the feelings that guide me. When I experience these feelings, I am happy. As long as I experience that particular set of feelings, what I’m actually doing isn’t as important. With these feelings guiding me as my vision, it doesn’t limit my dream to one particular type of business. If I don’t experience those feelings in the work I’m doing, then I ask myself if I’m doing the right kind of work. If you follow a vision based on how you like to feel and one that is encompassing of the person you are and who you want to be, then you will achieve a perspective that places no boundaries on the countless number of milestones you can attain in life.

I realize this is pretty heavy stuff to blog about. It might even seem a little abstract to think of a vision in this way. I believe in goals, outcomes, and achievements just like the rest of our modern society, but I view it differently than most. Our current culture of goal setting and success standards set most of us up for failure, yet we continually go through the same process over and over again. The irony is that most millionaires made their money by doing work they were passionate about. They did work that allowed them to experience the feelings they liked to have. The money they made was a by-product of pursuing their passions.

From a similar perspective, just last week, it was scientifically proven in the debate over what came first, the chicken or the egg, that it was indeed the chicken! It makes perfect sense to me. If applied logically to my theory, a chicken has a brain and a brain can experience happiness. The chicken probably experienced happiness from laying the egg, therefore the egg came secondarily as a result of the chicken pursuing a feeling it liked having. I think the discovery last week involved a little more biology than that, but hopefully you get my point.

Chicken or Egg Mystery Cracked

The whole premise of the book I’m writing centers around your vision for who you want to be. The other stuff is in there too–how to write short-term and long-term goals, mapping the key milestones you’d like to achieve, but all of that will be based on the vision I will help you realize for yourself. I’m hoping to have it completed before the end of year. Just in time for when many are writing resolutions that they’ll fail to adhere to. Till then, start paying attention to the feelings you like to have. Be aware of the situations you find yourself in when you’re having those feelings. And finally, keep following this blog!