One of my friends sent me the quote below that started me thinking about vision and goals. The whole thesis of my Time Leadership system is that goals are more important than just being efficient with time.
There is surely no point in being a person of vision unless we have the will to act. Daydreams and inklings about taking our personal mission seriously must be translated into action or be lost in the dust of "could have but didn't."
Mary-Elaine Jacobsen, Psy.D. from The Gifted Adult
In my book, I quote "goals are dreams with action".
But the question is: Is a person with goals a person with vision?
I suggest not necessarily.
Vision requires looking into the future. Trying to predict what will happen not only to the things you influence but to the world and what changes will occur. Then figuring out your part.
Part of the role of a good CEO is to have vision.
Combine Good Vision with Effective Goals with Action and you have Success.
Clearly, there are many definitions both for goal(s) and vision(s). It seems to me that from a pragmatic perspective we might like the definition of a vision as:
ReplyDelete"The formation of a mental image of something that is not perceived as real and is not present to the senses". I.e.: Something of an abstraction, not concrete, idealistic and certainly not defined in a time frame, other than "in the future".
In contrast, I might suggest the definition of a goal (or goals) as:
Concrete, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound (SMART) objectives, requiring Actions in order to attain it.
Sorry, Jim. You say that "Success is dreams with action," but there are many people with dreams and action that aren't successful. Reality is a bit more complex than that.
ReplyDeleteIt's true, it's important to distinguish between goals and vision, though it teeters on the brink of semantics. Wally's comment brings up a good point, but perhaps a different way to word it could have been: "Full success cannot be achieved without proper vision, goals, and action." Whether it's a two-way street is debatable, but overall a very thought-provoking article!
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