I enjoy reading Michael Hyatt’s From Where I Sit blog because it is an excellent site on leadership. Unlike so many blogs that seem to favor quantity of posts over quality, when Michael says something it is generally worth paying attention to, and often worth taking action on. For example, I recently posted on his use of “Accounts” in developing a Life Plan, and was so impressed with it that I have begun to apply the concept in my life.
Well, a few days ago, one of his older posts really caught my attention and has prompted me to action: his post on Why Visioning is More Important than Strategy. In this post he talks about his experience of using a Vision to bring the publishing company he was promoted to run from a relatively poor performer to a very good performer.
As he lays out how he went about developing the vision, he emphasizes that he let go of all thinking about How to achieve the vision, and focused on thinking big and without limitation. While I was aware of his point and had applied this type of visioning in several areas of my life over the years, it hit me right between the eyes that I didn’t have a clear vision for this blog or for its parent website, Keen PDA. Yes, I had an Intention that this blog and its parent site offer useful information for people to help them manage their time better and to lead their lives better. But, Intention was all I had: I had not taken the time to develop a real vision for the site. So, you can bet that I am certainly working on it now.
One thing I am observing about how I am doing this is that, the way my mind works, I have to use several different approaches to really get to the end result. For example, I started out just setting down with a legal pad and writing what came to mind, and then “tweaking it some” the next day. Then, I decided to use a MindMap to see if it would further promote ideas and concepts (and it did). Then, I decided to take that result and put it into a project management tool (I started with Bonsai on my Palm) to see if using that tool would help me add more Structure to the vision. When I say Structure, I don’t mean the How details, but further definition of what areas the vision should address, such as Content, My Understanding of the Market, Where the Market is Headed, and so on. (This is how it occurred to me that it would be good to develop a series of posts on project management tools.) I think most planning, including visioning, is an iterative process … at least that’s what works best for me.
I am finding this whole process to be enlightening and somewhat invigorating. It’s likely to be another week before I am satisfied with the vision, although I know for sure one thing I want to focus on: ensuring that quality takes priority over quantity. If you catch me not living up to this, let me know and help me hold myself accountable on it.
Once I am satisfied with the vision, then it will take time to flesh out How to go about carrying it out. But, I am delighted that I am working on this and am confident that it will be good for the readers.
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