Your Vision
After you've taken the time to find your purpose, you're going to be excited. Remember, this is one of the things that you feel most passionate about in life! How could you not be excited?
So how is that purpose going to play out in your life? What's your life going to look like, 5, 10 or 20 years from now? Where will your purpose take you? What is your perfect picture of your future?
For instance, my purpose is to help people grow and realize their talents. How do I expect to accomplish that? What is my vision of how that plays out?
My vision and my company's vision is to raise the self-esteem of the human race.
It's a big vision, I'll admit. But like they say, the journey of 1000 miles begins with one step. When I tell people my vision, they often say, "Wow. How can you raise the self-esteem of the human race?" And I say, "One person at a time." Sometimes it's ten. Sometimes it's a thousand. Sometimes it's by people reading this book. Sometimes it's by people listening to my CD's. But I'm constantly working to raise the self-esteem of the human race. It's my life-long vision.
Your vision is your opportunity to fulfill your purpose. It moves you toward the future perfect picture of how you want to be seen when everything is functioning at the best possible scenario.
Once you've identified your purpose, think about how you're going to fulfill it.
Suppose your father was an immigrant who worked in the States, but was handicapped because he never learned how to read English. Now, you feel passionately about teaching people how to read. You feel a special connection to adults who, like your father, are a little uncomfortable and embarrassed about not being able to read. You'd like to reassure them and help empower them to change their lives. That's your vision.
Maybe you're an attorney who feels passionate about the justice system. You believe strongly that it plays a vital role in society and you want to do everything in your power to make sure it is held to the highest standards. Your vision is to work to achieve fair verdicts and make sure the system works.
No matter what your career, you might find that your true purpose in life is to give your children the love and opportunities you never had as a child. You have a vision of a warm, loving family that extends through the generations and makes a valuable contribution to the world by its very existence. Creating more good people is what you feel passionate about. And your vision is to invest your heart and soul in achieving that with the people you love.
When you have a vision, it gives your life a kind of purpose and meaning that drives you forward. It gets you out of bed in the morning. Sometimes I'm so excited about the opportunities for fulfilling my vision that I can't wait to get going every day. Without a vision, you can't generate the same energy for life.
There is literally no limit to what your purpose and vision might be. Take a moment now and being to think about some of the things that are most important to you. Remember, you don't have to come up with the final answer in one sitting. Let your mind mull it over. Keep it on the back burner for awhile. Sleep on it. Let your intuition be your guide. Once you come up with it, you won't have any doubt. Nothing else will excite your interest in the same way.
How big is your vision?
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What you have stored in the subconscious mind is stronger than the drive and energy to change. Your creative subconscious is helping you create the reality of whatever you have stored.
There are a lot of things that we as human beings do that we store in our subconscious level, but they are not always what we want. Sometimes we tell ourselves that this is not what we want, but we don't do anything to change it. We may join Weight Watchers to lose weight. We may go to Toastmasters to learn public speaking. We may take a golf lesson or a bowling lesson. We may even go get career counseling to find a job that will suit us better. But if we don't change our mental Action Maps about ourselves, we are not going to change our outcomes.
You can leave things the way they are or change them. It's your choice. There are consequences for either one. You always have a choice.
Let me put it to you this way. You have one good option and it is to say, "Stop. I'm not going to live like this any longer."
Stop and question yourself. Challenge the process. Say to yourself, "I'm going to change. How do I want to live?" It's up to you to decide how you want to live. You can stop repeating the same old patterns. You can challenge the automatic process that's taking you to the wrong destination. Then you can make a new decision about how you want to live.
If you do that, what's the worst thing that could happen? On a diet, you might say, "Well, the worst thing that could happen would be that I'd over eat."
What would be the best thing that could happen? "I could change into the person I know myself to be." There are thousands of books written on this subject. Every school in America, every college in America that has psychology classes can teach you how to reprogram your subconscious mind.
But I'm here to tell you right now, it's not rocket science. It's easy. It's just a matter of putting the right language, the right thought process, the right thinking, the right words, the right behaviors, in at the subconscious level.
What are you feeding into that funnel? What are you typing onto the computer screen?
It's simple. If you change the way you think, you change the way you act.
That's not new. It has been around for a long time-since before the Bible verse, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." It's been around forever. But we, as human beings, have made it complicated.
If you want to be a great golfer, change how you think about yourself. Change your self-image. I don't know if you know who David Duvall is, but a couple of years ago, he was on a great winning streak. He won the British Open. He won a lot of tournaments in a row. They thought he was going to be the next Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer. But he fizzled out for while and now is on a major comeback. I trully hope he wins form is all selfimage.
I believe he outran his self-image. He didn't see himself being a great golfer. And as a result, he is off the tour right now. He can't even break par. A man with all the skill and talent and ability to be able to win, but he has not changed his self-image to match. Right now, he sees himself struggling and may even feel like a loser or think he's weak. But he has all kinds of talent and skill. When you read articles about him, they say that this is a man with talent, but he doesn't believe he can win.
Do you know anyone like that? Do have any friends like that? Do you feel that way yourself? Have you heard people say that you have a lot of talent or ability, but you haven't really done anything with it? Do you sometimes feel like a loser or think you're weak, you'll never make it?
The moment you hear that, you need to say, "STOP!!" In your own mind, say, "Stop! How do I choose to live? How do I choose to be? What can I choose to do differently to get different results?"
You can challenge the process. You can challenge that negative thought process. Pay attention to what you're programming into your subconscious mind. And start reprogramming new data into it today. You always have a choice.
Learn how to achieve your vision with Jim Jackson's inspirational BREATHE workshops.
Twitter, FaceBook, blogs, grapevine. Of these four choices, which do you think has the potential to provide tremendous growth in leads? If you said Twitter, FaceBook and blogs, you’re right. And, for the record, I don’t care how many “friends” I accumulate on FaceBook, or how many Tweets follow me, they’ll never compare with the familiar and soulful sounds of The Miracles singing “I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (Motown Records, 1966). There was truth and simplicity in lyrics back then. But, I digress and I sound like my parents! Until a few weeks ago, I had no idea what Twitter or FaceBook meant. However, I’ve been reading and listening and learning: The next big wave in business success is social networking via the Internet.
I had a million questions about this new computer stuff. Even the words sound funny: Twitter and Tweets. What does Twitter mean? How do you get started? If I have a FaceBook profile, will I get a truckload of spam in my in-box? Does anyone in the business world really read those things? Isn’t this computer stuff really just for the young people? I know many of you reading this are asking yourself the same questions.
I am a Baby Boomer and, not to date myself, but I remember watching TV on a small black and white television set (with no remote control!). When I revealed this to my 30-year old nephew, he rolled his eyes and chuckled at such a notion. He then asked me if I still had a land-line into my house. Yes, I do. He asked why and I gave him the standard “in case of emergency” refrain. He was now laughing at me. “Uncle Jim,” he said, “Don’t you realize they have GPS on your cell phones now and can even get satellite images of your house within seconds?” You see, he grew up with computers in every classroom. This group of 30-somethings has never known the reliance upon newsprint advertising or the delay of waiting weeks or even seasons for marketing plans to be realized. They know no real privacy (remember hand-written letters and phone booths?) or ownership of ideas. Their world is instant and in full view. In other words, they have instant access to each other and to singing lessons, pot roast recipes, editors, job opportunities, cancer research, film archives, dating advice, antique appraisals, dog sitting services – even where to find a new car. They are finding new ways in the art of communication and business through current technology and their networking.
Many of your employees are in that same group. The preferred way to communicate now is by texting. They find it more efficient to text someone down the hall rather than get up and go talk directly to them or even talk with them on the phone. But don’t for a minute think that they don’t have immediate access.
It seems the world is changing faster and faster. Maybe all progress is viewed that way from behind the curve. Learning how to adapt to technology is essential to prospering and growing your business. Here is the reality: You’ve got to jump into this technology with both feet and jump now. I promise you, your competitors are thinking the same thing, and we all know that whoever is first to the market wins the biggest.
I am always looking for new ways to learn and improve my own business. I just finished reading a book entitled “World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers that Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories” by David Meerman Scott (Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated, March 2009) http://davidmeermanscott.com/resources.htm This book helped me understand about this new technology and something called inbound marketing or, how to get people to call me. Let me say that again: Business prospects will call me instead of the other way around!
This is a huge idea and a major shift in the business of sales. Like many of you, I came up in the sales culture where one had to make numerous calls every day to be successful. This new book (and this new idea) is telling me the opposite is now true. As I read this book, I thought of car dealers and the challenge of letting go of some of the old ways. I’m not saying all the old ways of getting people in the showroom are useless; but, imagine a day where the customers eagerly seek you out instead of the other way around. Very few people even read a newspaper anymore let alone the ads and fliers that get thrown away immediately from the mailbox. Instant access, instant communication, and inbound marketing. It’s the difference between a friendly stream and a powerful tidal wave. It’s the World Wide Rave.
Do you as a leader create rave about your business? Maybe you can’t even imagine anyone raving about your business. How do you tell people about your offerings? How do you get people excited about buying, and then wanting to buy from you first? Odds are you use the old fashion way: TV, newspaper or some kind of direct mail.
A World Wide Rave is when people around the world are talking about you, your company, and your products. It’s when someone eagerly links to your Web site. It’s when viral marketing and social networking drives buyers to your Web site. It’s when customers visit your Web site and your blog because they genuinely want to be there.
A word of advice: there are some rules, etiquette, if you will in this new world. For me to explain each one of these rules would take more space than the editor will give me. You can buy a copy of David’s book or download a free eBook at http://davidmeermanscott.com/products_ebooks.htm Next you need to sign up for Twitter (a simple process) and start following others. (Note: “following” is a phrase used in Twitter loosely meaning that you, and others, are communicating by “following” a line of information.) You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jacksonlive Get on FaceBook and you will understand more as you read World Wide Rave. You can join me on FaceBook http://www.facebook.com/ just search for friend Jim Jackson. LinkedIn is http://linkedin.com/in/jimjacksonlive
You need to learn about utilizing the new technology trends to grow your business. Inbound marketing and the World Wide Rave are big and they’re happening right now. I have a client in Houston who estimates that maybe 140,000 cars drive by his business every day. Billboards, TV ads and the newsprint aren’t making them stop. He could build a community social site on the Internet sponsored by his business – a site where locals post what is happing in his neighborhood. Second, once registered on Twitter and FaceBook, he’ll invite every customer and all his friends and neighbors to follow him. In my community site, we have a local taco shop owner who Twitters meal deals once a week. Last night was “dollar taco night” – guess where I had dinner and the restaurant was packed.
The key is to use technology to get people familiar with you and your brand. A great example of who is using this technology is Auto Dealer Monthly. Their site, autodealerpeople.com, anyone can participate in a discussion on what is relevant that day in the automotive world. You could easily start there or create a similar site for your business.
Your challenge right now is to decide whether you’ll step into the next big thing or hang back and do what you’ve always done. I promise you, if you do what you have always done, you may get left behind.
Here is how I started my own “Grapevine.” After much research and some frustration, I aligned my company Web site http://jimjacksonlive.com/ with http://hubspot.com/ I made this decision for two reasons. First, HubSpot is an Internet marketing site with a very successful track record. Second, was Jennifer Snyder (%28http://jsnyder@hubspot.com.). Jennifer Snyder may be HubSpot’s most valuable commodity. Jennifer was willing and eager to answer every question I had for her. And, on the rare occasion when she didn’t know an answer, she quickly had her boss on the line to answer my questions. It was the perception of value they gave me as a prospective client. It has all worked better than I expected, and I anticipate the relationship to continue for years. By the way, what we’re doing right now, you and me, is a known as viral marketing or the Internet “Grapevine.” We’re talking about HubSpot and we’re networking, communicating quickly and efficiently.
If you want to understand more about inbound marketing click on this link and read for yourself http://www.inboundmarketing.com/ I stress it is not just blogging, Twitter or FaceBook, it is about creating a World Wide Rave about you, your company or your cause – your own “Grapevine.”
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What Does It All Mean?
At the end of the day, the quality of your life has been determined completely by you. You don’t always have control over the situations you encounter, but you always have a choice about how you react to them. You can wander through your life, putting one foot ahead of the other, investing as little energy as possible, just getting by. Or you can make the choice now to do whatever it takes to live a meaningful life. It’s up to you.
Take the time to seriously consider what matters to you. Don’t stop until you identify your true purpose in life. Then take that one step further: Use your imagination to see a vision of how that will play out in your life. Ask yourself: What happens on an ordinary day when I’m living a meaningful, fulfilling life? What am I doing? What does my life look like? And how do I get there from here?
Once you know your purpose, your vision and your values, you can create the action maps that will take you to your goals. That is the way to living a life that has meaning, a life with purpose, vision and value.
It’s entirely based on your own choices. When you start to get a glimpse of the amazing power that gives you, you’ll feel a rush of excitement that will blow you away. Because that will be the day that means anything is possible in your life.
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