Only Vision Will Get You Through This Thing Called Life The day-to-day grind can get overwhelming, but if you keep your eye on the prize -- you'll probably get it.
By Jim Joseph
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Let's admit it -- life is grueling. The day-to-day grind can get overwhelming. Work never stops, and the demands of family seem to flow endlessly. Throw in any kind of a social life or hobby, and you're always on 24/7.
Nonstop.
Related: Tony Robbins: Want Success? Rewire Your Mind.
It's even worse if you're an entrepreneur or small business owner without the kinds of resources you might need to make life just a little bit easier.
So many people ask me on a regular basis, "How do you keep going day after day after day? How do you keep so many projects alive without going crazy? How can you be a dad and an executive at the same time?"
Really, how do any of us get it all done?
On simple answer: I have a vision. A very personal vision.
I have a vision for what I want to be and how I want my life to be -- a very personal vision for where I am heading. Without it, every day would just be another workday.
How awful would that be?
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My personal vision is a guidepost for where I want my life to go -- and how I am going to get it. I weigh every task I do against that personal vision. It's why I have my job, why I teach at NYU, why I wrote books and even why I wrote this very blog post. Every action I take is a step towards completing that vision.
It's true at home as well. My husband and I have a shared vision, and that's why we've been together for so long, so before we could use the label "husband." We support our two kids in their own personal journeys and do whatever we can to make it easier for them. Because that's also a part of our vision.
I didn't write this personal vision over night -- it came after years of trial and error and a lot of lessons learned. Both personally and professionally. And I'd like to think, even at 53 years old, that I am still a work in progress.
It all starts with a very honest assessment of what you want out of life and the skills you need to get it. Then you can start to map out what it's going to take to amass those skills and experience those life events on your journey towards attaining your own vision.
Once you map this out, you'll have a plan and a way to guide your daily decisions at work and at home. You'll know whether each activity is moving you towards your goals.
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Suddenly, that presentation you are delivering and that project you are finishing and that meeting you are leading all take on a new meaning. Because none of them are simply another "to-do" but instead they are part of a master plan to get you to your goals. Step by step.
That is how you stay engaged day after day, and that is how you make it through each of those days. Give it a try!
