Vision

So, it’s 4 days into the blog and I realize I have already set myself up for failure.

I have already set the wrong goal.

I said my goal was to be 189 pounds within a year and make it stick.

This is not a long term goal. This is a byproduct of a greater goal. This is a destination..with a finite ending. My goal in writing this blog was to help in getting me to my ideal weight, but also to continue writing once I got there to make sure the daddy belly never returns.

My goal, therefore, is not big enough. Your goal…is not big enough.

My day job is strategizing with companies on communications strategy and internal marketing and branding in initiatives. Companies have both short and long term goals. But, most companies have a vision….a culture….and set of values. So, if we were to think of ourselves as a company…

The vision is expressed as a mission statement and acts as the framework to guide you towards sustainable achievements. (see the movie Jerry Maguire for more on mission statements)

The culture defines the attitudes and beliefs to make the vision a reality

The values serve as a compass on how to behave in the world no matter the outside influences and changes.

It’s not easy to have your culture and your values match your vision. It takes a lot of work…and a lot of communication. There are many people who say one thing and do another. I say I want to lose weight, but my chicken onion pizza/Mississippi mud pie night actions are not in line with the vision of losing weight. There will always be outside influences…like “special days”. And it will be easy to abandon the goal if we don’t have a real mission to work towards. We will abandon our goals if there is no vision to guide us each step of the way. We will certainly abandon our goal if we do not define our culture…and with no values to live by…we don’t ever have a chance.

There needs to be alignment between who we think we are, who we want to be, and how we intend to get there.

So, forgetting about the weight loss for a second…some new thinking….

My Vision: Be a role model for my kids in everything I do

My Culture: Be better than yesterday and walk the talk

My Values: inspire, motivate and educate

Hmm…Now 189 pounds seems like the easy part....

and a slice of chicken onion pizza with a piece of mud pie sounds pretty stupid.

Don't you agree?