A Vision For Your Professional Success

When it comes to survival, we are visual animals, and our vision helps us to succeed physically. As a species, our eyesight is our most developed sense.

We have stereoscopic sight that can detect a wide variety of colours and shading. This, in turn, lets us see easily see patterns and movement.

These combined abilities allowed us to avoid becoming dinner while trying to get dinner for ourselves. Our vision helped us to succeed physically, and it still does today.

When it comes to business success, vision is no less critical to survival. However, instead of our sense of sight, this vision involves our sense of imagination and possibility.

A Vision Of Successful Outcomes

Vision, in the business sense, is the ability to visualize successful outcomes. It is the ability to imagine positive results. It is, at its heart, the ability to lucidly dream of where you want to go with your business.

Don’t be afraid to dream. As Henry Ford once said, if you think you can do something or if you think you can’t do something, you’re right.

So, spend a few minutes each day visualizing where exactly you plan on going, and you plan on getting there. This is not daydreaming, far from it.

“You need to have a vision. To have the ability to see the invisible. If you can see the invisible, then you can achieve the impossible.” – David Brett-Williams

This is focused development, scheduling and organization. Plan your day by seeing the optimum outcomes.

This is the same process that athletes use to hone their performance. When you imagine yourself succeeding, you are more likely to actually succeed.

Remember, if you don’t take the time to build your dreams, someone will hire you to take the time to build theirs.

Focus And Endurance For Your Career

In any activity or endeavour, it is essential to build endurance. Endurance is defined as the ability to focus on the task at hand and bring it successfully to conclusion.

Some call it courage, and others call it strength or stamina. No matter what you call it though, endurance is the ability to persevere and get the job done, no matter what.

Usually, when we speak of endurance, we’re referring to physical activity. Endurance is as important in the business world as it is anywhere else.

“Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision.” – Stevie Wonder

In business circles, endurance usually takes the form of focus. Instead of physical prowess, it becomes the ability to concentrate successfully on a given task.

Focus is a critical skill set for any business owner, especially in today’s fast-paced world where success often means keeping several equally important balls in the air at one time.

The Key To Successful Focus

So, how do you focus on multitasking? A situation where, by its very definition, several things are happening at once. Well, the key to successful focus is attention.

When several things are happening simultaneously, you need to concentrate on only one thing at a time. This doesn’t mean that you bring one task to full completion before you start on another.

“Teamwork makes the dream work, but a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team.” – John C. Maxwell

Instead, you spend just enough time on a given task to take it to the next stage of development, and then you turn your attention to another task. In some sense, it’s a little like being a mother duck with ducklings.

You give your attention to the duckling that is farthest out of line, nudging it forward to where it should be before you turn your attention to the next little duck.

Each duckling gets a measure of your focus, but none gets your full attention all the time. In this way, each task gets moved along in turn, and all are successfully completed in time.

Professional Success Requires Persistence

Ok, let’s talk about persistence. For starters, how many old sayings, aphorisms and clichés are there about persistence?

The early bird gets the worm. Slow and steady wins the race. If at first, you don’t succeed, try again. If life gives you lemons make lemonade.

The list goes on and on.

“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.” – Joel A. Barker

The reason that there are so many old sayings about persistence is twofold: First, it’s an essential element in success and second, it an element of success that gives a lot of people a lot of trouble.

Something as essential and troublesome as persistence deserves a lot of clichéd sayings and a lot of attention.

The problem with the road to success is that many people only picture the destination, not the journey.

The Vision Of Success As A Lifelong Process

When they do this, they not only fail to see that real success is not a destination (it’s a lifelong process), but they also fail to see the potential problems that routinely occur when striving for success.

When these problems occur, the unprepared person is stopped dead in their tracks. In their confusion, they forget where they were going and why and instead head back to where they came from.

When you prepare for and anticipate the setbacks that can and will happen on the journey to success, you are ready to repair, rethink and re-engage.

The persistent person understands that failure is a temporary condition that affects everyone at one time or another before they reach their goal. They also understand that failure and setback teach powerful lessons that ultimately make you stronger.

As Gandhi said, strength does not come through winning. Instead, strength comes through failure.

When you struggle and decide not to quit, that is strength. It is also persistence and points up why every successful business owner understands that setbacks are opportunities in disguise. Simply stay true to your vision.

An Outstanding Mindset and Business Success

So, you may be asking yourself “What exactly is an outstanding mindset?” Well, an outstanding mindset is a real, verifiable psychological phenomenon.

It turns out that many long-term successful individuals possess specific characteristics that they share with other long-term successful individuals. This set of characteristics has been termed an outstanding or growth mindset.

Now, some people, who tend to achieve less than their full potential, also possess a set of characteristics that they share with other under-achievers. This set of traits has been dubbed the “fixed mindset”.

An Outstanding Or A Fixed Mindset

Most people, more or less, fall in one camp or the other.

People with an outstanding mindset tend to have a desire to learn from life. This desire leads to the ability to embrace challenges, to overcome setbacks, to see effort as worth the results, to accept criticism and to admire and learn from the successes of others.

“The more efficient you are, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent in conjunction with your outstanding mindset to produce outstanding results.” – David Brett-Williams

These behaviours allow native intelligence to grow throughout a lifetime. People with an outstanding mindset are believers in free will. And this belief allows them to achieve their goals time and time again.

People with a fixed mindset tend to have a desire to appear smart, with a corresponding fear of looking foolish.

The Downsides Of A Fixed Mindset

Their desire leads them to avoid challenges, to give up easily, to see extra effort as wasted, to ignore or reject criticism and to envy and resent the success of others.

These behaviours tend to limit native intelligence to a fixed amount. People with a fixed mindset often plateau early in life and fail to have, let alone reach, fixed goals.

The good news is that an outstanding mindset can be cultivated relatively quickly by changing some critical behaviours. First of all, you have to decide to choose growth over stagnation.

You also have to be willing to take affirmative action and begin to accept challenges and criticism and learning from both. An excellent way to start is by developing the philosophy of “yet”.

This simple step simple attaches the word “yet” to the end of every negative thought. As in “That will never work, yet…” or “It’s probably not worth going, yet…”

This simple trick opens up the possibility for growth, and that possibility leads to changed behaviour that actually does cause the development of the outstanding mindset.

Success In Business Requires Flexibility

There is nothing more stifling to success than rigid thinking. Rigid thinking leads to rigid behaviours, and rigid behaviours lead to dead ends, blind alleys and creative cul de sacs.

In other words, while there is a certain amount of comfort to routine, too much routine can choke off all chances that you will be able to reach your business goals successfully. Why? The answer is simple.

“People of limited ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they have an outstanding mindset and don’t know when to quit. Most men people because they are made up their mind to.” – David Brett-Williams

The world, including the business world, is constantly changing. Rigid thinking and rigid behaviour, by definition, are resistant to change.

Therefore, rigidity, in thought and action, spells obsolescence in the business world. Everyone else moves forward while you are left behind in the dust. So, what’s the answer to this problem? In a word, flexibility.

Information Is Power

In today’s world, information is power, money and control all rolled into one. The fast and free flow of information is what makes this possible.

Everything changes quickly. What is a successful formula or a popular product in one cycle can be, and usually is, old news in the next.

The only way to successfully stay on top of this bucking bronco of information and use it to your advantage is to be flexible enough to roll with the changes and that requires an outstanding mindset.

Flexibility is easy to achieve. But only as long as you are not too tied down to any single idea, product, service or manner of delivery.

If you keep up with changing market conditions through judicious use of the flow of information, you can easily spot new trends and adopt them successfully. And usually before your competitors have had time to act.

The only trick is not to fear change and, instead, embrace it. If change is the only reality in the business world, then, to be successful in that world, change as to be your reality as well.

Cultivate Your Creative Muscles

Creativity can be elusive. It’s not something that you can summon at will. When it happens, it strikes like lightning. Yet, like lightning, it can be maddeningly unpredictable.

However, because creativity is an essential element of a successful business mindset, it is necessary to understand the creative process and how you, the business owner, can cultivate your own creative juices.

“Outstanding leaders make it a focal point to boost the self-esteem of their team and help them develop and outstanding mindset. When people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” – David Brett-Williams

The creative process is mainly internal and unconscious. No one ever wakes up and says “Hey! Today I’m going to be creative.”

Creativity is all about taking in a lot of influences. And letting those influences combine, ferment and morph in your subconscious. Together, they form a sort of mental potting soil. And this is where new and different ideas have a chance to germinate and grow.

Developing An Outstanding Mindset

The more things you learn, read, see and hear the more creative soil you can produce.
So, as a business owner who wants to be creative, the best thing you can do is get out there and in the world and open yourself up to new experiences.

Be curious about many different things. Develop hobbies. Challenge yourself. Do the unexpected.

The more you push your own personal envelope and develop your outstanding mindset, the more you are charging your own creative batteries.

When those batteries are charged, it is much more likely that inspiration will strike. Who knows where that new idea will take you?

Use Competition To Your Advantage

The world is built, to some extent, on the concept of competition. Everything living competes for specific resources that are needed to grow, thrive and outperform ecological rivals.

Sunlight, space, water and nutrients are utilized to the fullest extent by the smallest to largest creatures wherever they are found and in whatever quantities.

As human beings, we are hardwired to engage in this competition too. It’s a part of our genetic heritage and one every business owner needs to embrace.

“There will always be competition, but competitors don’t have to be enemies, you can empower each other.” – David Brett-Williams

The problem is that some people perceive competition as a somewhat undesirable trait. This is because these people look at competition as a black and white issue.

It is seen as either a win at all cost, take no prisoners proposition or as a watered down and barely discernable version of itself, where consensus and agreement are the order of the day.

The Power Of Competition

This imposed polarity masks the true nature and power of competition. In reality, competitiveness is neither a black or white extreme. Instead, genuine competition is a potent force for positive change.

The successful business person knows that healthy and honest competition is the motive force behind innovation.

The business world, like the natural world, is driven forward by this continuing innovation that occurs in response to changes in the existing environment. In the natural world, these changes are primarily climactic.

The life form that best adapts to these changes survives and thrives. In the business world, these changes are socio-economic. The business that best predicts market trends and meets demand most efficiently also survives and thrives.

Competition Is The Lifeblood Of The Marketplace

As a business owner, you need to remember that competition is the lifeblood of the marketplace. It not only drives innovation, but it also inspires creativity and helps build new paradigms.

Don’t shy away from your naturally competitive nature. You are in the game to win the game, so are your fellow business owners.

“The ultimate victory in competition is derived from the inner satisfaction of knowing that you have done your best and that you have gotten the most out of what you had to give.” – Howard Cosell

Challenge yourself and challenge them in the process. Through competition, you each drive the others to better products, services and performance.

Each winner shows the way to the next level, the next round and the next race. Remember, competition is the real heart of business success.

Network and Connect

In business, as in life, you can’t go it alone. It’s said that none of us are islands, but if we were each of us form a vast and interconnected archipelago.

Bridges and boats stream traffic between all these islands and that traffic is mostly information.

If you cut yourself off from this flow of information, either purposely or by mistake, you do so at your peril. Why? Because the island next to you is going to take those connections and the information they provide and use it to his or her advantage.

Networking is an essential element of every successful business.

It provides you with contacts, leads, clients, partners, suppliers and much more. It carries your name and your business reputation farther and more efficiently than most advertising.

Most importantly, it is an endless source of profit, ideas, collaboration and support. If you are networking, you should do more. Or if you’re not networking, you need to start.

If you don’t network, your business will stagnate and die.

Network And Meet The Competition

When you’re networking, you need to keep a couple of essential points in mind. First, every social or professional engagement can provide you with an opportunity to network.

There’s often nothing more formal about it than an exchange of information and follow-up connection. Remember, as a business owner, you’re always “on the clock”, so to speak.

Be ready to take advantage of a potentially lucrative networking situation should the opportunity arise.

“Success scares people. When you don’t put the time in and when you don’t climb the ladder of success, everybody loves you because they don’t view you as competition.” – Nicki Minaj

Second, when you are networking, treat people naturally, the way you’d want to be treated. Offer no strings advice. Often solving a problem for free generates more long-term profit than the cost of the advice or service.

Also, listen more than you talk. Silence really can be golden when you take the time to hear what another person is saying.

Finally, always remember that honesty is the best policy. Don’t promise something that you cannot produce. Don’t be someone you’re not to close a deal. Be yourself and watch those connections grow!

Professional Success Requires Personal Confidence

Nothing succeeds like success, right? Sure. However, real success comes from confidence and confidence, in turn, comes from success.

They each revolve around the other in the ultimate symbiotic relationship. However, this is not a “what came first, the chicken or the egg?” kind of proposition.

Confidence precedes success in the order of appearance. That’s because the quiet assurance of real confidence, as opposed to mere cockiness, serves to lay the foundation for reaching a goal.

In this way, confidence is more of an outward manifestation of an inward persona than it is a pose or an affectation. Cockiness, on the other hand, is simply on an outward shield that masks inward insecurity.

As a business owner, you need to be confident of yourself and your product or service. People react positively to a confident person, especially if that confidence is real and a part of that person’s soul.

To develop this type of real confidence, there are several things that you can do.

Real Confidence In The Face Of Competition

First, always remember that confident people can take a stand on an issue or a decision not because they think they are right, but because they are not afraid to be wrong.

They see a difficult situation as an opportunity for growth. Finding the right solution to a problem is more important than being right. Therefore, if they are wrong, they will be the first people to admit it and move on.

Confident people often listen far more often then they talk. They are more interested in hearing different information and opinions than they are in broadcasting their own.

“If you’re a true warrior, competition doesn’t scare you. It makes you better.” – Andrew Whitworth

And they are never afraid to admit fallibility and ask for help. They know that other people’s knowledge is their greatest strength.

Finally, they understand that success is a team sport. They know that any goal is achieved through the efforts of many, not the will of the few.

Therefore, they share the spotlight of success and shine it on others far more than they shine it on themselves.

Be Accepting Of Yourself While Striving For Greatness

There is absolutely no way for you to be successful and reach your goals until you accept who you are. You have to like yourself and what you do before anyone else will.

The world detects how you feel about yourself and often shares the opinion you have about who you are. Be yourself and free yourself in the process.

You are a unique individual. Your talents and abilities, your intelligence and interests, your opinions and tastes, make you who you are.

There is no need to hide a part of yourself or alter a part of yourself for the sake of conformity.

Real success is about freedom, and all truly successful people are individualists who have, more or less, accepted and glorified who they are. You should do the same.

The Very Best Version Of Yourself

At the same time, being yourself does not mean glorying in mediocrity. You need to be the very best version of yourself possible.

This means that you have to work at being you. You have to put the time into self-improvement.

“Success for me is always going out there and putting 100% into whatever I’m doing. It’s not always about winning.” – David Brett-Williams

Acceptance is not an excuse for laziness, cowardice or fear. Life is a privilege. It is a gift. The gift and the privilege of life is that you get to be yourself, the best self you can possibly be.

Use the gift, take advantage of the privilege that you’ve been given. Don’t squander the chance.

Let your own unique light shine forth.

This is the light that will illuminate the path to real success in life. It will also be the light that attracts other people to you.