On today's 184th episode of my Monday Morning Pep Talk, we'll continue our tour through the cockpit as I lead you through Take Flight V4.0. As a reminder, the cockpit is the control center of your "aircraft" (business) and today I am going to teach you how to best "Create Your Destination." I’m sure no pilot moves an aircraft to the runway for takeoff without knowing the destination. Unfortunately, though, that's what most real estate brokers attempt to do in their business and life, resulting in waves of peaks and valleys.
In Take Flight V4.0, we refer to your destination as your 3 Year Vision. To have a "3YV" means you know what you want to happen in your life and business in 3 years. Napoleon Hill refers to it as “definite of purpose” in his epic book Think and Grow Rich. It describes the need to know what you want, how you want to feel and how you are going to obtain it and by what date. If you are not clear on THAT one thing, you most definitely will not get it. Most people - the 97% - naturally default to “pay the bills” to maintain survival mode. That’s the one thing everyone understands - the need to survive. It’s built into your brain as the natural default.
The idea of "vision-eering" and goalsetting is not a new concept, obviously. The Harvard Study on Goal Setting proved this concept to me when I heard it for the first time a decade ago. It surveyed the graduating class of MBAs from 1979. At commencement, the graduates were asked: “Have you set written goals and created a plan for their attainment?” 84% had no goals set at all, 13% had written goals but no concrete plan. But, 3% of the graduates had both written goals and a concrete plan to attain them. The results? Ten years later, the 13% that had goals but no plan were earning twice as much as the 84% who had no goals or plan. The 3% (ELPs) who had both written goals and concrete plans, earned ten times as much that of the remaining 97%. The 3% had clarity of vision, they knew what they wanted, and they had a plan for how they were going to achieve their goals.
To create your "3YV," or the metaphor we are using on today's call, "Chart Your Destination," use the following thinking process:
- Identify a "thinking place.” It's an area in your home or outside location that is calm, serene and inspirational.
- Grab a journal, notepad, or your favorite notes app on your laptop.
- Ask yourself the following questions:
- How do I want to live?
- Who do I want to become?
- If we were having this discussion 3 years from today and we were looking back over those 3 years, what would have had to happen in your life, both personally and professionally, for you to feel happy with your progress?" (The Dan Sullivan Question)
- What does 30,000 feet mean to me?
- Start writing down anything that comes to mind. Create the scenes of a ‘movie trailer’ that you can use later in this process.
- Be aware of EGO entering the space. I look at vision as the promises you're making to yourself while ego is the positive and negative external drivers that motivate you. I want to make it clear that I will not try to define ego as something that is bad. In fact, ego might give you that extra fuel needed to meet your vision. What I will try to do is help define ego and put it in its proper place.
- A "3 Year Vision" should contain things that stimulate your senses (travel, lifestyle, hours, bank balances or hours worked per week). Ego related items would be production levels and commissions earned. We will use those items later as we build out your plan to reach your "3YV."
- If production levels and GCI dominate your consciousness during this process, ask yourself: "Why do I want to hit ________ in sales?" or "Why do want to make ___________ per year?" The answer to those questions is your vision.
- Take all of your notes and categorize them into statements that support your 3YV. (Note: as you move through the 3 years, the specifics might change a little bit and you'll find yourself editing the smaller print.)
- Create a goal board (words) or vision board (pictures) to support your vision. Keep it in a place easily used to review your "3YV" daily.
- Commit. You need to ‘burn the ships,’ and commit with no turning back.
Your vision will literally become the filter for your life. It will pick your friends and who you spend time with on a daily basis. Your vision will pick what you eat and drink and it will keep you motivated when you want to throw in the towel. By going through the exercise I’ve presented today, you’ll have your "destination" in place and have automatically become part of the Top 13% of achievers.
Beware: many of you will want to skip this exercise and go straight to action, immediately back to selling homes. That mindset will lead to years and years of continued peaks and valleys. It'll push you down into the bottom 87%. Take Flight V4.0 is all about getting you to that top 3% where vision/goals and inspired action separate you from your competition.
In the next few weeks, I'll teach you the best ways to organize your efforts to bring this "3YV" to fruition. Don't worry, there will be plenty of time for action. But this time it will be different because it will be inspired action. Consistent action doesn't come unless you have the thoughts and emotion preceding it. I've often wondered what the difference is between a vision and a goal… the difference is inspired emotion. With a 3 Year Vision, you become emotionally attached to the outcomes.
Team, you have to believe it before you will ever see it.
