-Your Vision + 100% Commitment = Meaningful Success.

Here is the secret to success. Have a vision that inspires you to expand beyond what you think you are capable of and give your best daily effort toward it.

A vision is not just a “big idea” that steers the direction of an organization or a team. It’s a heart-stopping dream everyone can have at every stage of life. Without a vision, focus scatters and enthusiasm diminishes. Along with it, your chances of authentic success.

Success vs. failure.
Success is more than winning, although that may be part of it. It’s about discovering what gives your career and life meaning, driving your best efforts in everything you do regardless of the outcome. This kind of engagement consumes all your senses and every inch of your intellect and heart, with little room left for complaint.

Failure is getting distracted by fleeting interests or sidetracked by other people’s expectations of you. When this happens, life tends to become dull, tiresome and disengaged. Everything seems like drudge work because it is. There’s no personal purpose in any of it.

Value of vision.
Motivated by your big idea, everything becomes clear, taking on new value and importance. Your thoughts, words and actions align. Decision-making and problem-solving are easier because you know where you’re headed. Everything gets filtered and figured out through the lens of your personally inspiring dream.

Your vision may be significant for you but not necessarily for anyone else. Wanting to be the first person to Mars might light one person’s fire while raising happy and responsible kids or writing a book are what do it for others. Neither one is better, however, one is more authentic for each person. Your big idea has to turn you on, not anyone else.

Vision in action.
When I was young, my mother ran a popular gourmet restaurant and catering business. Every year, the owner brought over the best young chefs from a cooking school in Italy. These guys were culinary artists and they knew it. After a hard night’s work in the kitchen, they took advantage of the wild 1970s Miami lifestyle. Sadly, within a short time, they burned out returning to their homeland or moving on to work in no-name restaurants well beneath their training.

There was one exception. Ernesto envisioned owning a restaurant in the States one day even though he was a penniless immigrant. He was quiet and unassuming, whereas the other chefs were boastful and macho. He had meticulous cooking techniques, while the others were “spontaneously” careless. He saved every penny he earned while the others spent their weekly paychecks on wine and women.

Results of vision.
Twenty-five years later, long after the restaurant was closed and everyone had gone their separate ways, my mother found Ernesto living in San Francisco. We visited him and his three, not one, very successful restaurants. By then, he was a handsome middle-aged man who wore expensive, finely tailored suits and had a stunning woman by his side.

Vision. It keeps you working at your 100% best, even when it doesn’t make sense to others.

Find your big idea and let it guide you every day. You’ll be grateful you did, this Thanksgiving and every Thanksgiving that follows.

Wishing you a great holiday with your loved ones.

Till next week,
Jo-Aynne Von Born, Leadership and Executive Coach

Work Your Authentic Genius.
What vision could keep you enthusiastic, focused and committed even while enduring difficult circumstances?

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