Have you ever tried answering the question: What do you really want from your business? It may sound simple at first, but rest assured – it’s a tough one. But, if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, then you have to…yes, have to…know, feel and be able to visualize the answer.
Successful entrepreneurs have one trait in common: clarity about what they want out of their business, what kind of clients they want to work with and what they want to accomplish. It’s that laser focus that helps them determine what actions to take and where to spend their energy on a daily basis.
The Magnetic Quality of Clarity
Simply put, clarity is what allows you to communicate your vision. Without it, it’s hard to answer even the most basic of questions, like “What does your business do?” and “Why are you in this business?” And, if you can’t articulate your vision, why should you expect anyone to jump on your bandwagon (i.e. customers, partners, investors)?
There’s a certain magical, magnetic quality about people that communicate their vision well. They inspire and attract people – even better, they attract help. If you can articulate your business vision with passion and conviction, you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to enroll people into helping you build your business or buy your offering. That translates into the ability to launch your business faster and with greater success.
When we’re focused, the brain has an amazing power to pick up information and decipher opportunities. For example, have you ever noticed that when you decide you’re ready to buy a new car, you begin to see it everywhere? This isn’t a coincidence, as many neuroscientists will agree. When we’re totally focused on what we want, amazing things happen. We become hypersensitive to opportunities, strategies, people and ideas that can help us meet our goals.
It’s important to note that achieving clarity of purpose is a continual process; it’s not something you do only in the launching phase. Businesses evolve and entrepreneurs must continually evaluate and evolve their vision as their business changes and grows. Be sure you have the mindset to just flow with it – feel comfortable letting your vision flow with it and keep your clarity of purpose in check.
The Importance of Realizing Your Vision Before It Happens
The key to creating a powerful vision for your business is going deep, not just skimming the surface. Your vision should make you feel excited and motivated when you read it; you want to be able to actually feel achievement. To do that you have to focus on all aspects of your entrepreneurial vision, including how it impacts your life and the people around you.
Once you create a vision for your business, a powerful way to put it in motion is to spend time each day visualizing it. Top athletes, including Tiger Woods, Mia Hamm and Andy Roddick, use imagery or visualization to power their performances. In fact, most athletes use mental imagery instinctively and spontaneously on and off the field.
It has long been known that the human mind is a very powerful organ with limitless potentials. The oft-quoted saying, “Whatever your mind can conceive, you can achieve,” has almost become a cliché. But, it was only during the last two decades that modern science has come up with incontrovertible proof that what we merely imagine has exactly the same effect on the body as the actual physical experience.
Researchers have discovered that visualization puts your body through the paces before you physically take action. Vivid images can produce subtle but real firings along the neural pathways that participate in the physical activities that you are visualizing.
Here’s the key: your central nervous system does not differentiate between real and imagined events. In essence, sharp mental images, in which all of the senses are involved, are capable of “priming” and “pre-training” the body for a particular activity – whether it’s downhill skiing or giving a client presentation. This creates a pathway or connection between mind and body that promotes smoother and more precise physical activity once you actually take the action you visualized.
Visualization and imagery are powerful tools you can use in all stages of launching and growing a business, even making a career change. It helps you stay on top of your game when you are making important phone calls, meeting with clients about potential opportunities and goal-setting.
Not only does it prepare you to take action, it enhances motivation…one of those critical challenges every entrepreneur faces. When you clearly visualize the outcome you want in vivid detail and really feel how it feels, it’s hard not to get excited about taking action!
