Many of us around this time Last Year had a great vision and had set goals for ourselves that later turned out difficult to keep up with. Your vision could be a promotion at work that never materialised, starting your own business plan, better money management approach, getting out of debt, read more books, stop procrastinating, learn a new skill, develop an exercise routine that proves too difficult to adhere to 3 months down the line, travel, volunteer with a charity, make a donation or a relationship goal that’s too obscure.

Surprisingly 80 percent of people have no vision and never set goals for themselves. Even more surprising, of the 20 percent of the population that have a vision and have set clear goals for the year, roughly 70 percent fail to achieve the goals they have set for themselves simply because all they do is hallucinate.

My definition of Vision is more detailed than merely writing down a statement for the New Year, it involves knowing who you are, what you want, where you’re going and what will guide your journey.” Vision gives us direction. It sets the path for us to follow with the intention of reaching our respective destinations, whilst achieving our goals.

Furthermore, hallucinating is the apparent perception or seeing things that do not actually exist. It is getting in contact with things that are not true. Some people therefore failed to achieve their set goals because of psychological hallucinations: where they often bask in the euphoria of a mentally achieved vision without actually taking the right step towards achieving them.

Henry Ford’s statement of “Vision without Execution is Just Hallucination” fuses both vision and execution (the need to take action), which is an equation; the former cannot work in exclusion of the latter. One would imagine what was in Henry Ford’s mind when he uttered those words. Seemingly, other personalities, including World renowned inventors like Thomas Edison were of the same mindset.

According to Edison, “ideas alone are not good enough to bear fruit if there is nothing being done about them”. Larry Page, co-founder of Google says “You need to invent things, and you need to get them to people”. Larry Page’s story illustrates that just having an idea in your mind alone is not good enough. Larry went ahead to experiment with his idea and as we can all see with (‘Google’); it is one of the greatest inventions in recent times. As a result, he is one of the wealthiest and most influential people in the world. What if he had not done anything about his idea, would he have succeeded and influenced the modern world as much as he has? Of course not

As we wrap up this year 2017 and begin to set goals for the Year 2018, it is imperative to ensure they are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic & Timely). You must also know that your goals should be well thought through in order to avoid “bogus planning”. Areas of action must be clearly identified with due dates and outcome expectations set as much as possible.

Also when you set goals for yourself, it is important that they must motivate you: this means making sure that they are important to you, and that there is value in achieving them.  To make sure your goal is motivating, write down why it's valuable and important to you. Ask yourself, "If I were to share my goal with others, what would I tell them to convince them it was a worthwhile goal?"

Your goals set should also be in writing, the physical act of writing down a goal makes it real and tangible. You have no excuse for forgetting about it. Frame your goal statement positively. If you use a To-Do List, make yourself a To-Do List template that has your goals at the top of it.

Finally, remember goal setting is an ongoing activity not just a means to an end. Build in reminders to keep yourself on track, and make regular time-slots available to review your goals. Your end destination may remain quite similar over the long term, but the action plan you set for yourself along the way can change significantly.

Writing is the painting of the voice; I would therefore encourage you to start 2018 now by painting what you want it to be like. Get a Pen and Paper and Paint Your Vision for 2018.
So, what will you decide to accomplish in 2018?