You're a pitbull. You wake up every morning running, and push your business forward for eight solid hours, and then live your personal life with just as much passion till the moment you drop off to sleep at night. No obstacle can stop you, or even slow you down.

And you get results.

But are you going the right direction?

"Yes," you reply. "I've set goals, and I'm driving toward them."

If so, that's good. But have you set the right goals?

Last week at Pro Blogger, Darren Rowse wrote:

...I began to ask myself, "What do I want my blog to be known for?"

I projected ten years forward and began to visualize what kind of photography blog I could have at that point. I made a list (or rather something of a vision/manifesto for the blog)"”one that I came across yesterday.

...

At the end of my vision document I also wrote the following observation:

"What I am dreaming of is nothing like what I am currently doing."

How nearly does what you're doing online resemble where you dream of being? Who you dream of being? Who you want to be known, and eventually remembered as?

If your goals are all aimed at making money (which is important), are they distracting you from the bigger picture (which is more important)?

I'm guessing that if you're jumping on and off of every trend, trick, and technique that comes and goes, there's little resemblance at all between your daily life and your destination. How could there be? Your life probably doesn't even resemble what it will look like next week.

So why do we get caught up in trends that don't support our vision?

There are a lot of reasons.

  • Because we haven't yet figured out what's possible.
  • Because we've never clarified what our vision is.
  • Because we haven't figured out how to get from here to there.
  • Because we're afraid we haven't got what it takes to get from here to there.
  • Because we want to make some quick money before starting the long journey from here to there.
  • Because we've gotten distracted by things that seem like good ideas.

The funny thing is that all but the last are legitimate reasons. For a little while, at least. The problem comes when we get stuck in short term thinking, and never look out to the horizon.

Or when we look to the horizon, but never take the time to clarify our vision and align our goals with what we see.

Or when we give up without pushing past temporary limitations and finding out what we really could become if we tried.

I have to admit it -- I have a good general idea of who I want to be, but I haven't created the kind crystal-clear, long-term vision that I should. And I'm probably spending a lot of my time running a little bit off course as a result.

As Darren wrote:

you're supposed to take the [vision] and compare it with how you're currently living, so you can identify how you need to change your life to take you to that place.

What are you doing now? What do you want to be doing? What's the difference? How can you make the change? Do it.

Clarify your vision. Set goals. Achieve them.