WHAT COMES TO MIND WHEN YOU IMAGINE A “SUCCESSFUL” BUSINESS OWNER? 

What do you think?

A leader with a considerable profit, growth income, and many people working under them?

I have worked with hundreds of high performers in the business, and the ones that defined their success in these metrics struggled. Especially over the last three years, when many external events affected those three. If we all think about success in today’s world, do we determine the ultimate success of someone in our culture in materialistic terms?

However, the dictionary defines success as

“Achieving something desired, planned, or attempted.”

Over the last two decades, the most successful people I have known and know understand their vision, value and purpose.

They know what they want to achieve and how that fits in with their values, which aligns with their purpose of themselves.

Vision

Let’s start with your vision.

What is your vision? It’s a question you hear people ask and talk about all the time.

Your vision statement reveals, at the highest levels, what you want to be and achieve in the long term. It’s where you see, hear and feel yourself in 5 to ten years. 

Here are ten areas that are required for a vision.

• Think five to ten years into the future.
• Dream big, and focus on success.
• Use the present tense.
• You need to be able to see, hear and feel it.
• Use clear, concise, straightforward language.
• It’s exciting.
• It needs to align with your purpose.
• Create a plan to communicate your vision statement to the people around you.
• Prepare to commit time and resources to the vision you establish. 

It’s essential to create time and space to create this vision. Enjoy the process of developing it. 

Values

The values are the ultimate set of rules and principles that direct your action, create boundaries, ensure integrity and provide guidance when making decisions. 

Values = Actions and Actions = Values

It is important to remember that values should be consistent with your vision and purpose.

Values exist, whether you recognise them or not. Understanding and honouring your values helps to make life more effortless. Setting a purpose in line with what matters most to you makes decision-making simpler and increases the potential for success.

Unlimited your values are down to you, but your past and your environment will have hugely influenced them. 

Ask yourself

• What do I stand for?
• What do I believe in?
• What is the most important thing to me?
• What do I not stand for?

For me, as a business dad, my values are that of

• Honesty – I will tell my children how it is (apart from Santa etc.) and expect them to be honest with me.
• Led by example – be a role model at home and at work
• Engage in my children’s world
• Make health a priority 

Purpose

Your purpose is the reason why you exist. It’s the biggest one out of visions, values and purpose.

It describes what drives you, motivates your decisions and ignites your passion. It’s a powerful tool for creating alignment between yourself and others — when we do something aligned with our purpose, we feel inspired and fulfilled.

Your purpose is needed to make decisions when faced with challenges. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the options available, but staying connected to your why will help guide the action you take and simplify the decision-making process.

We can now see how your visions, values and purpose begin to align.

Some great questions to ask yourself are:

1. What gets you out of bed in the morning?
2. What gives you the most energy?
3. What would you spend all your time doing if you could? (this can be multiple things).
4. If you could fail, what would you want to be doing?
5. What is my most profound purpose?

Once you clearly understand these three aspects, you can make better decisions and focus on what really matters. It’s no longer about materialistic success but instead about finding success in line with your values and purpose.

By focusing on creating a life driven by your vision, aligned with your values and purpose, you will be able to create something extraordinary. Check my interview of the Prime Life Podcast, where I discuss this area here

You will have a clear roadmap of what you want to achieve and how that fits in with your values, which aligns with your purpose of yourself.

You can start today by sitting down and thinking about your vision, values and purpose.

Good luck in defining your success

Lee

If you want some support, check out the business dads pathway here.