Values and vision…these things ultimately make or break your business.
Whether or not your values and vision (or goals) work together or separately will determine whether you feel clear, inspired, and lit up about your work….or you feel overwhelmed, exhausted, and frustrated.
For long-term success, it’s crucial that your vision and goals are in alignment with your values.
This sounds easy enough, but the problem I see with so many businesses is that they don’t know their values or they aren’t letting their values inform their vision and goals. You see, these aren’t housed in separate silos. We need to bring them together.
Because a LACK of bringing our vision and our values together causes a lot of businesses to fail. Why? If my GOAL (and part of my vision) is to make 100k my first year, but my VALUE is to only work a few hours a week, to spend as much time with my family as possible, or to not take on clients that require a large time commitment…then my goals + vision and values aren’t exactly in alignment. Which means that if I make 100k, but work long hours, I won’t be happy. If I spend loads of time with my family, but don’t make 100k, I’m going to be disappointed. It’s a lose – lose, right?
Before we keep going, let me say something. There’s NOTHING wrong with either of these. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make 100k your first year in business. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to spend lots of quality time with your family.
The problem comes only when we forget to put these things TOGETHER. When we forget to look at the big picture – at our entire vision – and make sure our values and our goals are working WITH one another. Because when they’re not, we’re likely going to feel overwhelmed and frustrated. We’re going to want to give up, because things “aren’t working”. We get into this cycle of “it’s not working”, “it’s not working”, “it’s not working”…and we’re not meeting our values (spending all the time with family) OR our goals (the 100k year).
What I encourage you to do is ask yourself, “Is what I’m working for in alignment with what I want? Are my goals, my values, and my vision working together? Am I thinking about my vision AND values when setting my goals?”
Let me give you an example. One of my values is to give a stellar client experience. When setting goals and planning my vision, I take this into account and realize this might mean I scale a little slower. Why? Because I’m not willing to sacrifice a stellar client experience in order to grow more quickly.
All this to say that most people don’t fail because their business isn’t working. Most people fail because they’re not aligning their vision – impact, goals, intentions – with their values.
So, today – I want to fix that! If you’re wondering how to ensure you’re operating in alignment, here’s my three-step formula for creating more impact in your business by knowing your values and your vision.
1. Ask yourself: “What do I value?” “What vision am I creating?” “What are my goals?”
Grab out your journal and answer these questions.
What are your goals and intentions for the next month, 6 months, or year?
What are you working to create? Where is your business headed? What vision do you have?
What are your values? What matters the most to you? Why are you building your business?
2. Look closely at your values, goals, and vision.
Where do your values, goals, and vision align?
How can you move forward from that place of alignment?
This step is important, as it’s the step that ensures our values are part of HOW we’re planning to get where we’re going. If we don’t move forward from this place, there will eventually be a time where it feels like we’re losing. That we’re sacrificing something. That we’re not giving any area our best. Like we’re doing something wrong.
If you’re not finding this sweet spot when your goals, vision, and values are alignment, then it’s time to adjust. Typically, we adjust goals not values (as values tend to be more deeply ingrained), but sometimes values can be adjusted as well.
3. Celebrate when everything is in alignment.
Once you’ve identified your goals, values, and vision AND brought them together by locating your sweet spot, then you want to make sure you CELEBRATE when these things work in your business.
For example, I value high touch client experience. When that shows up, AND I’m hitting my income goals, I have to celebrate. I have to lean into celebrating that. Even if I adjusted my income goal, I’m still celebrating it. When things are happening in alignment in our business, we’ve got to take a moment to acknowledge it.
Once we do, that’s where things begin to shift. That’s when the impact takes off.
Now, I’d love to hear from you. As you move through this three-step formula, what values are driving your business? How are your values informing your goals and vision? Share with me below!