In today’s world we all do things and we do it with all our heart in it. We blog, we use twitter, we engage in social conversations, we have a Facebook account and we try to be productive. We use gadgets and Firefox extensions and mobile productivity tools. We are busy reading articles and busy searching all the information in the world and we are really busy. And we become busy to keep ourselves busy with things that don’t matter in life. Take a step back!

You Think You Can Succeed With a Personal Vision?

Create your vision and then work on all these things. Write a blog, tweet all you can and get engaged with social networks. But only after you know why you are doing what you are doing. Without having a clear vision, its like trying to reach the top and not knowing which wall the ladder should be leaning on. We often get so worked up in keeping ourselves busy that we forget the bigger picture. We start climbing the ladder and we do it faster and faster only to realize that this is not the wall it should be leaning on and that we have been trying to climb on a wrong wall. Developing a effective personal vision helps, but just having a compelling vision will not  ensure that you will be successful.

You Cannot Succeed With a Personal Vision

After trying to climb on a wall for a long long time, you realize that you were leaning on a wrong wall and you now lean on the right wall. Great!! And you start climbing and you climb for a little while and the ladder starts shaking, it breaks and you are on the ground again. So, now not only do you need the ladder to be leaning on the right wall, you also need the right ladder. Ever heard of that - people falling on the ground because they used a wrong ladder to climb the pinnacle of success? How about Bernie Madoff, Satyam’s Raju Brothers or Enron to start with?

All these mentioned above used a wrong ladder to reach the top of a wall. Their ladder, the values on which they formed their empire, was wrong and that’s why it broke. The guiding principles – or the lack of – that drove them to be successful led them in the wrong direction. They had a vision – a strong and compelling one – but it had no relation with the core-values. The vision was to earn money and they compromised their values for their vision. So even though they were successful, it did not last very long.

You Need a Set of Personal Values

For long-term success, a set of personal values - the second ingredient in the recipe of success – is required. Your personal values or core values are the guiding principles of your life and each action you take should not violate these principles. Your personal values or your guiding principles make you aware of what's the right thing to do and what might not be ethical. Once you know your vision, it becomes your reference for all the activities and tasks you do.

You can use the personal vision to set your priorities and whenever you are lost you can think about your vision to gauge if you are in the right direction. Your core values on the other hand give you the benchmark to live your life and do your job. Your personal values are like the metrics for living your life. You can use these metrics in your daily life to confirm that your actions support the guiding principles and your personal values. The way you conduct yourself in your personal and professional life should be inline with these values. Each day of your life should not violate the criteria of your personal values. If honesty is one of your value, then you should make sure that your every action supports this value of honesty. Nothing you do should violate this value.

In future posts, we will discuss what are some one the common personal values and how to identify these personal values.

You and The Ladder of Success

So to reach the top of the wall you want to, not only do you need to make sure that the ladder is leaning towards the right wall, you also need to make sure you are using the right ladder – a ladder that will not fail and that will take you at the top.

Share your comments. What are your thoughts? How do you determine what ladder is good and what is not? Do you think you can succeed without personal values?

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Further Reading

1. 3 Ingredients of Success - Vision, Core Values and Mission Statement
2. How to Create a Compelling Vision and Successful Vision Statement
3. Start Creating A Vision to Transform Your Life
4. Creating Vision Statements with Vision Exercises
5. 7+ Powerful Questions to Ask Yourself For Creating Your Personal Vision