How do you know when you have achieved your “vision?”

What a great question

I was out for a run with a friend and were talking about the need to strive to achieve a vision.  Without divulging any details, I described the process a client and I were using to help define where the client wanted to be in the future, a sort of vision statement.  

My friend asked, “So how will he know when he’s achieved his vision?” Great question and great curiosity!

I talked about how one could be specific in the description of the goal and make certain it was measurable, etc.  Blah, blah, blah. As we ended our discussion, something in my answer to the question didn’t feel quite right.

My client’s vision was broader than specific measurements, yet it was important to have some sense of progress toward that vision. I’m not certain there is a clear cut answer to my friend's question, “how will he know?”

Vision defined

I believe a good place to start is by defining “vision.”

Vision is a lofty goal that’s just out of reach. It means that you have to stretch to get there. It is inspirational. It is desirable. It is attainable, but only with resolve and effort.  Jim Collins and Jerry Porras stressed that the “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” as outlined in their best selling business book “Built to Last.” is a “clear and compelling” goal.

A Vision of Mine

When I was in my mid 40’s I decided that when I die, I want to die healthy. For me it is clear and really compelling. How will I know I have achieved that vision or lofty goal? I probably won’t. Yet, I can be certain I am moving toward that vision and making progress.

I decide that in order to get “healthy,” I needed to start running for exercise. The thought of running 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) was out of the question. If I could run a mile that would be great.  That was a big goal. However, within several weeks, I was running the 3 mile distance quite regularly.

I had achieved my goal. But, was I healthy?

Then I wanted to run faster. I was able to cut a couple of minutes per mile off my run time.  Did that make me healthy? Could I say, “Now I have arrived?”

I knew I wanted to run farther and started adding miles per run. I worked up to running five miles and then a 10K. Eventually, I was able to run a half marathon.  Then I raised the goal to run two half marathons in a season, which I did.

The intermediate goals of running certain distances and times were serving the “bigger” goal in life. I wanted to improve my fitness and overall health. Running was a means to that “bigger goal.” My distances and times were intermediate measures that point in the direction of “healthier” but they aren’t the same as being healthy.

As my friend asked, “how do you know you’ve achieved your vision?”

Achieving May Be Elusive

Achieving the vision for my client may prove to be elusive. However, movement toward the vision is definitely “knowable.” Like the miles a runner tracks, or the cholesterol readings the doctor reports, there are measures and goals that serve as intermediate indicators of movement in the direction of the vision. “Achieving” the vision may not be so clear.