Why Having a Vision for Your Business Can Save You Hours of Stress and Anxiety + Tips on How to Craft an Effective and Sustainable Vision for Your Life, Career and Business with Michael Hyatt

When it comes to success in life or business, we know we need to know what we want. But how do we go from a dream to real life? How does an aspiration become a success?

I recently spoke to best-selling author and successful businessman Michael Hyatt on how true vision precedes resources, directs alignment and execution, reduces unnecessary stress at work and at home, and leads to long-term success.

Today, there is more anxiety than ever before. It seems like everyone is struggling to juggle everything that is on their plate; working 70 to 80 hours a week seems “normal” and burnout is part and parcel of everyday life. But, just because this is the way things are for many people doesn’t mean that things ought to be this way.

Thankfully, having a clear vision in business and life helps you differentiate between what is a distraction, which just leads to busy work, and an opportunity. As Michael notes, vision helps you know what is important and where it is you are going. It helps you focus on what you really need to accomplish, reducing your workload, your stress levels and your anxiety, which, in turn, makes both the workplace and your home more mental health-friendly.

Vision is especially important if you are already successful. The more successful you are, the more opportunities you will encounter, which is good in some respects, but can also be overwhelming if you don’t have a clear vision!

Having a vision also doesn’t mean that you will encounter no challenges. The road to success is always rocky, but knowing your vision gives you a reason to press on when you want to quit, as Michael describes in his book Living Forward. It helps you face and overcome the “messy middle”, when you are too invested to quit but you are not sure you have the resources to finish. Vision gives you “the why”, encouraging you to keep on keeping on.

This kind of vision is not merely a mission statement. It is a process, which includes creating what Michael calls a vision script. This is a document that is around 3 to 5 pages, which looks at the future of your business (that is the next 3 to 5 years), written in the present tense. Writing down your vision in this way not…