Becoming belongs to the heights and is full of torment. How can you become if you never are? Therefore you need your bottommost, since therefore you are. But therefore you also need your heights, since there you become.
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Strong, meaningful Vision Statements are powerful tools for long-term business growth. They tell you what your company wants to be and what it doesn’t want to be; they clearly define your long-term goal; they help you motivate and inspire employees; and, they unite all departments in service of your ultimate goal.
But, a Vision Statement is only one piece of the roadmap to business success. A piece that companies often ignore is taking into account of where they are now and being brutally honest about it.
You can only get to where you want to be by starting where you are now.
Several years ago, I would run seven miles a day, 6 or 7 days a week. Several injuries sidelined me and my workouts over the last few years could be described as erratic at best: short periods of intense workouts followed by months of inactivity. Ultimately, I wasn’t being honest with myself about where I was. In my mind I was still the seven-mile-a-day runner, but truthfully I was nowhere near it. This is a common human behavior: we often become obsessed with who we want to be instead of taking account of who we are. It’s only recently by being brutally honest with myself about my current capabilities that I’ve been able to achieve progress.
The same is true of business: if you start with unrealistic ideas about your current capabilities, culture, and customers, you won’t be able to achieve your organization’s vision.
Next time you consider your Vision Statement, also consider where you are now. Then, you will know what needs to change to get your business where you want it to be.