June 17, 2024 • 29 mins
Vision is among the most overused words in the civilian and military world. Often, leaders create short-term concepts that only impact the organization when they are in leadership positions. However, a vision must outlive you and scare others due to its sheer scope. Take Bill Gates, for example. His vision is to place one PC on every desk in the world. That requires long-term commitment built on shared values. When leaders cast a vision for their future, they force collaboration and communication in their team and personal lives. To achieve the extraordinary, you must frame the challenges relative to your capacity. Too small of a vision leads to expected results; too bold, it becomes unrealistic, and you fail to develop the required resources. I've created a system called VISION to help you break through the mental fog and start building traction for your personal and professional life. Purposeful Accountable Leaders (PALs) inspire themselves and others by creating a realistic vision aligned with their heads and hearts.
Link to Article: https://www.mcmillionleadershipcoaching.com/blog/tales-of-leadership-article24
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to the Tales of Leadership podcast.
This podcast is for leaders atany phase on their leadership
journey to become a morepurposeful and accountable
leader what I like to call a pal.
Join me on our journey togethertowards transformational
leadership.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
All right team.
Welcome back to the Tales ofLeadership podcast.
I'm your host, josh McMillian.
I'm an active duty servicemember, I'm an army leadership
coach, I run my own leadershipcoaching company and I'm just on
a journey to become the bestleader possible, and I'm on a
mission to end toxic leadershipand build a better leader what I
like to call a purposeful,accountable leader and I'm going
(00:42):
to do that by sharingtransformational stories and
skills.
And on today's episode we aregoing to be doing a deep dive
and something that I have beenusing for several years now in
my life, and I call it vision.
And we're gonna break down thatword of what I mean when I say
vision, and going through theacronym, because if you've
listened to me at any length oftime, you know that I love
(01:05):
acronyms.
So I have created a system thatyou can use to create a vision
for your life, for yourself, oryou can even apply this to work,
to start leaning into thefuture and grow into the person
that you want to be.
So let's go ahead and jumpright in.
(01:26):
So vision is among the mostoverused words in, I believe,
the civilian or the militaryrealm.
Often, leaders createshort-term concepts that only
impact the organization whenthey are in a leadership
position.
However, a vision must outliveyou and scare others due to its
(01:46):
sheer scope, and here is a goodexample of that.
Take Bill Gates, for example.
His vision is to place one PCon every desk in the world.
That requires long-termcommitment built on shared
values.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
When leaders cast a vision for their future they
force collaboration andcommunication.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
So remember that when we have a long-term vision, two
things collaboration andcommunication in their teams and
in their personal lives.
To achieve the extraordinary,you must frame the challenges
relative to your capacity.
Too small of a vision leads toexpected results.
You're going to get easy wins.
That's too easy To be bold, tobe unrealistic, you fall into
(02:35):
developing the requiredresources.
Too small a vision leads toexpected results.
Too bold, it becomesunrealistic and you fail to
develop the resources requiredto actually achieve it.
So I've created a system that Icall Vision V-I-S-I-O-N to help
you break through that mentalfog and start building traction
(02:58):
for your personal andprofessional life.
And remember this purposefulful, accountable leaders or pals
inspire themselves and others bycreating a realistic vision
that gets the head and the heartaligned.
And here's a quote to startthis off A vision inspires
scares and demands a responseall at the same time.
(03:19):
So the first one, starting offwith with V, is validate your
pillars.
Regardless of your backgroundor the current season of life
that you're in, we all haveareas that are extremely
important to us.
Pillars are areas in life thatact as anchor points as we
(03:40):
progress on our leadershipjourney.
Remember, when I defineleadership, I really mean that.
That's life.
We're all on this journeytogether and we are all leaders
because we have to learn to leadourselves first before we can
lead other people.
Your pillars must be broadenough to look into the future
but specific enough to inspireothers to act.
(04:02):
Here's a great book and it'scalled Vivid Vision and it's a
great resource to really'scalled Vivid Vision and it's a
great resource to really helpyou to discover what your
pillars are.
But one thing I've learned ifyou read ULA how to Build a
Balanced Life in an UnbalancedWorld, or that one thing all the
books, they all have the samepillars.
So it's really up to you.
(04:23):
You need to create your ownpillars and some of those areas
may be the same, but what'simportant is that you're setting
those areas in life that youchoose to intentionally grow in.
That's key.
Be intentional To inspire you.
My pillars follow.
I like to call KISS that'sanother acronym within an
acronym You're welcome, keep itsimple, stupid, and I use it all
(04:47):
the time and those are family,faith, finance, field, fitness,
fun and fulfillment, and thoseall lead into what I like to
call my seven freedom growthgoals.
So everything that I do in lifeis really gained towards
freedom.
But those seven individualpillars that I just provided you
(05:10):
hopefully inspired you to findyour own all lead to my
long-term vision of what I'mtrying to achieve.
And again, these are notgroundbreaking.
If you read any of those booksthat I just provided you, they
are in there.
Tony Robbins says success leavesbreadcrumbs, and there's a
(05:30):
reason why these are allessentially the same.
They are anchor points.
They allow you to gauge if youare on course, and there's no
perfect number of these areasthat you should have in your
life.
However, I highly recommendthat you limit yourself to no
more than seven.
You are only diluting yourvision once you cross that
(05:51):
threshold and allow your goalmindset to really start to take
place.
So remember what I mean betweena growth mindset and a goal
mindset.
Growth mindset is thestretching us beyond our current
capability.
Growth mindset is or goalmindset is, essentially, we're
(06:12):
knocking down targets and we'rechasing that dopamine kick.
We're never really growing intoanyone that we want to.
We're only solely focused onthe goal, and that's what I mean
growth versus goals.
When we have a growth mindset,we may not achieve some of our
(06:32):
short-term goals, but that'sokay because we're iterating.
We're becoming better everysingle time and that's what is
most important.
Remember, it's not aboutcreating goals and accomplishing
them.
The more profound point ofcasting a vision is identifying
the person you choose to become,and purposeful, accountable
leaders are intentional withtheir chosen pillars and they
(06:56):
understand that goals are notthe outcome but the process to
achieve those results.
And if you go toMcMillianLeadershipCoachingcom
and I probably should have saidthis at the beginning you can
read this blog article that Ihave accompanied with this and
to include, have said this atthe beginning, you can read this
blog article that I haveaccompanied with this and to
include, listen to this podcast,and that way you don't have to
take any notes.
(07:16):
But there's a picture that Ishared underneath in the article
and it's a Glasgow Cathedral.
It's one of the oldestcathedrals in the United Kingdom
and my wife and I had the honorto kind of visit this beautiful
place and when you're walkinginside almost a thousand year
old structure and you just seethese pillars that have stood
(07:37):
the test of time, that is whatfoundations are built upon, and
I could not think of a betterpicture to kind of illustrate
the point of validating yourpillars.
So the next one that we'regoing to be going into is I for.
Identify where you are After youselected your pillars.
Identify where you are in thoseareas, understand where you are
(08:00):
is essential in casting along-term vision for your future
.
The hardest part is selectingthe pillars that serve as the
anchor points for our growthgoals.
Each area is not equal to eachother, and this is extremely
important and you need tounderstand and that will impact
the goals that you set.
So I've developed a tool that Icall the will of leadership and
(08:24):
I use it in my coaching, andessentially what it is is.
It's a tool that gauges whereyou are within those pillars.
For example, applying threebasic questions that can
universally be pulled to anypillar that you chose, which
really applies the Likert scale,and here's some example
questions that you couldpotentially see how would it
(08:45):
feel if I failed to meet my10-year goals in the area of
family?
I would then rate my responseon a scale from 1 being not that
bad to 10 being absolutely theworst.
And then, by calling out yourpillars with powerful questions,
you begin to see which areasare most important to you, and
(09:08):
I'll tell you right now familyis the most important area to me
.
Discovering your pillars areweighted different is critical
in setting those goals, and wetalked about that before.
That goals are not important,but this is An area that you're
not emotionally drawn to shouldnot have very challenging goals.
(09:28):
They should be more reasonablegoals.
However, if you are developinga growth plan for the most
critical areas in your life,your goals must inspire, scare
and demand action.
To illustrate this point, Iprovided the will of leadership
on my coaching website,mcmillianleadershipcoachingcom,
(09:48):
and if you want a free copy ofthis, you can just shoot me an
email atmcmillianleadershipcoaching at
gmailcom and I'll send it overto you Absolutely no strings
attached, because everythingthat I do, I do it to genuinely
make this world better, and I'msharing everything that I've
(10:09):
discovered on my leadershipjourney.
Purposeful, accountable leadersown their areas and create a
growth plan matching theiremotional connections.
So the next one on our acronymvision is S for strength
statement, and I shared apicture from my platoon that I
(10:29):
led in southern Afghanistan in2012.
And this picture reallyvalidated one of my strength
statements that I've developedthroughout my life, and it's
every day is a gift, and I'mgoing to say this again in just
a second.
I'm not going to waste mine,but that picture always brings
me back to that moment going towaste mine, but that picture
(10:51):
always brings me back to thatmoment, those nine months that I
spent in afghanistan and someof the men and women that I had
the absolute honor and privilegeto serve with and that I still
talk to to this day.
That affords me into the leaderthat I am now part of.
Casting a vision is creatingalignment in your life, creating
a burning desire to find waysto achieve your goals,
(11:12):
regardless of the obstacle.
A strength statement is justthat.
It is the fuel source or energydepot for when times get tough.
As my friend and vocal coach,liz Howard and if you haven't
heard that episode, make sureyou go back, because she just
gets me fired up every time Italk to her.
(11:33):
She has this level of justenthusiasm and charisma that is
inspiring and I love, lovehaving conversations with her
because she really pushes meoutside of my comfort zone and I
like surrounding myself withpeople like that.
But she is an amazing person.
She is a purposeful,accountable leader.
(11:54):
Make sure you go.
Listen to that episode.
But she said once you find theright note in life, anything is
possible.
A strength statement is yourunique note, only found by deep
reflection.
It serves as an affirmation inimpossible times where moving
forward seems unimaginable.
I've developed my strengthstatement that I've just talked
about before through some of thepast experiences.
(12:17):
What are some of the mostmemorable, tragic, triumphant
moments in your life?
How did you feel during thosetimeframes?
What pushes you to move forwardevery single day?
And again, I discovered mymantra in Afghanistan and a
combination of going through allthese different types of
schools, some strugglespersonally with my family and
(12:41):
mine was every day is a gift.
I refuse to waste any momentthat I have on this earth, any
moment that I have on this earth.
Eventually, I built what mystrength statement is now that
every day is a gift.
I'm not going to waste mine.
So here's the question what isyour strength statement?
Purposeful, accountable leadersdevelop a powerful strength
statement that shines light inthe darkest of times.
(13:03):
So we're working through theacronym vision.
The next one is illustrate 10,five and a one year growth plan.
So the fourth step in casting avision is engaging your head,
heart and getting alignment withthe hands.
So you actually go do the work,you see where you want to go
and you find intrinsicmotivation to go do that Now,
(13:24):
getting the hands enlisted intothe fight, and it's time to put
pen to paper.
I believe casting a vision isbest by looking 10 years out.
And again, if you read VividVision, they will agree with me
why.
It's because I think lifeconsistently changes and we all
have seasons Thinking too far.
Forward defeats the purpose ofcreating a long-term vision
(13:47):
unless it's for an organization.
Forward defeats the purpose ofcreating a long-term vision
unless it's for an organization,and then that is okay because
you can have long arching goals.
But I think I would argue that10 years can easily be focused
on in life as well asorganizationally.
Beyond that timeframe, Ibelieve mental fogs will take
place over time and the purposeof the 10 years is to create a
(14:09):
realistic growth plan thatallows you to move forward.
So start at 10 and work yourway back to five and finally one
year, list the areas you'vechosen to grow in and create
three to five goals per pillarTeam.
Let's take a quick break fromthis episode and I want to share
an additional leadershipresource with you, and that is
(14:32):
one-on-one leadership coachingthrough McMillian Leadership
Coaching.
So what do I do?
I help leaders discover theirpurpose, create a long-term
growth plan and take inspiredaction.
I believe everything rises andfalls on leadership and,
regardless of where you are inlife, one fact is true you are a
leader of others, you are aleader of your family and, most
(14:54):
importantly, you are a leader ofyourself.
To lead others well, thatstarts by leading yourself well.
If you want to learn more, youcan go to
mcmillianleadershipcoachingcomand schedule a free call today.
Back to the episode.
I recommend not surpassing thefive goal mark, because your
(15:15):
attention will shift from agrowth to a goal mindset.
Remember we're trying to setgrowth goals that stretch us
outside of our capacity.
To ensure you're creatingpowerful growth plans, use the
acronym SMARTS.
So I add an S to this, and youprobably heard this framework
before.
It's very popular in systemsengineering and the engineering
(15:39):
trade.
By just broad definition.
It's specific, measurable,achievable, realistic,
time-based.
And then I add the S is shareit, because if you don't share
it with someone, no one's goingto hold you accountable, and I
don't care who you are, even meyou're going to have times where
you just say, hey, I need amiddle break and, to be honest,
(16:02):
one of those times is reallywhere I'm at in my life right
now, but I have people in mylife that keep me accountable.
Each goal must check the block,allowing your next five and one
year plans to become traceablegoals to the leader that you
want to be.
At that 10 year mark, as you'redeveloping your growth plan,
(16:25):
ensure that you're sharing itAgain, we just talked about that
.
If you're married or have asignificant other plan, it with
them.
I've learned that a vision isuseless unless you have a
partner that is willing to growintentionally with you.
At a minimum, they can be anaccountability tree and we've
talked about this before and ifyou haven't heard some of the
(16:45):
previous episodes of where Iexplain this and what
accountability tree is butessentially it's someone who is
deeply rooted that doesn't wantto hear any of your nonsense.
They're here to help you.
They're here to be leaned on intimes when it's tough and
provide shade when theenvironment is too much, but at
the end of the day, they'reunwavering in their support to
(17:07):
push you to be the best versionpossible.
Purposeful, accountable leaders.
Develop a 10, five and one yeargrowth plans, guiding them to
become their best version andthink of it like this 10 years
is.
That is who you want to be andwe're going to talk about this
in the next step of this iswhere I want to be in life.
(17:29):
Against all these differentpillars, five years are
traceable anchor points or TRPstarget reference points along
that vision, and the one year isthe action plan.
This is your 365 day actionplan to get you towards your 10
year vision.
It's all tiny steps.
(17:50):
Think of it like this If youwant to shove an orange which is
your one big goal into a Masonjar, you're not going to be able
to get that in there.
Or if you do, it's definitelynot going to be an orange
anymore.
It's probably going to beorange juice and just tattered
pieces of oranges to get inthere.
It's probably going to beorange juice and just tattered
pieces of oranges to get inthere.
(18:11):
It's definitely going to break.
But if you had equal weight inSkittles, I prefer Skittles over
M&Ms because they just tastebetter.
Let's be real with each other.
That is also my weaknessSkittles.
I love Skittles and equalweight.
Each one is an individual step.
Eventually you will hit yourtarget goal, which is that
(18:38):
weight in oranges.
But it's taken you 40, 50, 60,maybe a hundred Skittles, who
knows.
Sometimes I eat a hundredSkittles in the setting, but
that is the point.
Individual steps it's not justabout going out and making that
10-year vision happenimmediately.
It's going to take time.
It's going to take tons ofindividual steps to get you
(18:58):
towards that.
So that takes us to our nextone for O in vision.
That's own your story.
After you develop that 10, 5,1-year growth plan, it's time to
bring them to life.
In systems engineering, thereis a term called a use case, and
use cases show how users willinteract and use a system being
(19:21):
developed.
They help visualize how thesystem is intended to identify
unseen areas.
Each use case is tied to arequirement and it is traceable
back to the user.
So you see where I'm going here.
When casting your vision, thegoal is to create use cases
centered around your pillars.
(19:42):
For example, how will you growfinancially at the end of that
10 year mark?
For me, I want to be amillionaire, not for selfish
reasons, because I want to havefreedom.
I want to live where I want tolive.
I want to be able to spend timewith my family.
I want to be able to travel andgo see my daughter, who's going
to be in college.
Those are tools that I need tofeed into my 10-year freedom
(20:04):
goal To use these types of usecases.
You must incorporate your goalsbut, more importantly, bring
them to life.
You need to create thatemotional intrinsic motivation.
It's going to get you out ofbed and do these things,
especially when you don't wantto do them.
Each pillar must describe yourfuture so vividly that you can
(20:25):
see it, you can feel it and youcan taste it.
Creating use cases for yourpillars allows you to develop
that intrinsic motivation.
How will you feel in 10 yearsif you're successful?
I guarantee you you will thankyourself for all those countless
hours and individual steps thathave helped you get to where
you are.
What will it mean if you failwhen you're completing your use
(20:49):
case?
If you fail when you'recompleting your use case, you
can start to see the leader thatyou intentionally want to grow
in, and the purposeful,accountable leaders develop
narratives for their future thatinspire them to act.
And I shared a picture of mewhen I was in Scotland.
It was the same trip with theGlasgow Cathedral, but this is
me wearing a kilt.
(21:09):
And if you ever watch theseries Outlander, this was oh
man, I'm going to skip the name,it's the McKenzie's Lollybrook.
There we go, I think Lollybrook.
I was in that castle and I gotto wear a kilt.
This was a bucket list item forme.
(21:30):
For sure of being able to weara kilt.
I want to go back and redo itbecause I wore pants under the
kilt.
I want to be super authenticbecause I am.
My family comes from Scotlandand, a fun fact, back behind me,
I actually have my family crestthat I'm going to be getting
framed, and we have a castle onthe Western side of Scotland.
(21:51):
So I think I'm just going to goclaim that for my birthright,
because why not?
Right?
But I was sharing the picture,for the standpoint is that that
was something that Iintentionally wanted to do when
I started this 10 year visionfor my life, and not only was I
able to achieve it, I was alsoto bring my wife with me so we
could share it together.
(22:11):
And that's what I'm talkingabout.
If you're intentional, you knowwhere you want to go.
The road may be bumpy, it maynot be the exact path that you
thought it would be, but you'restill going to get to that
desired end state.
So here's the final oneEnvision, navigate your battle,
rhythm.
The final step in casting avision comes down to one word
(22:33):
and that's consistency.
Will you stay routine,accountable and disciplined RAD
remember RAD, another acronymwithin an acronym of routine,
accountable and disciplinedleader on your journey To stay
the course, you have to developa battle rhythm, given direction
(22:56):
weekly, to make sure you'reactually taking action.
Start off by setting your dailytop three goals.
What three goals will youaccomplish today and why are
they important to you?
Second, develop a weekly battlerhythm, a plan of attack, with
no more than seven goals Out ofthose seven.
What is the one big thing thatyou have to get done this week?
(23:19):
And that one growth goal, ifachieved, you still are
successful.
Having family appointments,birthdays, work events or
self-growth goals is okay.
And again, remember these areintentional growth goals to help
you in that year plan, to helpyou on the five-year plan, to
help you on the 10-year plan.
These are not just normal,routine things.
(23:41):
I need to go to the grocerystore today.
I need to set up a doctor'sappointment today.
These are things that are goingto push and stretch you to the
individual leader that you wantto be.
Each week is different becauselife gets a vote and that is a
hundred percent okay.
Your goal is to develop a planthat intentionally forces you
(24:04):
forward.
Now, I always love thismetaphor of the American patch
American flag on service membersand why the stars is always
facing forward, because the windis blowing to the front and we
never surrender, we neverretreat.
We're always moving forward.
When we act without a plan, itonly causes an energy loss and
(24:29):
we end up in the same spot.
Finally, I recommend developinga quarterly plan focused only
on significant life events, forexample, family date nights,
significant travel, or one yeartargets of where you
intentionally have planned for.
So, for example, this year wewant to go to Great Wolf Lodge.
(24:51):
When we get to a next quartercycle, meaning every three
months, we will look at thecalendar and we'll try to figure
out when we can fit that intoour life, because life gets a
vote.
I'm getting ready to startanother job, which I've only
been working in the job that I'min right now for eight months.
Welcome to the Army, and that'sokay, because we practice what
(25:14):
we preach of being resilient andtrying to adapt to the ever
changing situation, and I'mgoing to go in there with the
same principles and lessons thatI've learned throughout my
military career and I'm going tomake it the best possible team
that I can.
For instance, under one of myfaith pillars and this is
another one my one year goal wasto attend a marriage retreat
(25:35):
and we're trying to do that inAugust, but maybe I can't do
that with the job that I'mgetting ready to take.
But the point is we need toplan out our yearly events and
three month chunks to helpdeconflict life's competing
goals.
If you're playing significantevents in the present, you will
(25:58):
find an a hundred percent cause.
I used to do this.
Excuses to not do them.
My wife and I would always talkabout doing these amazing
things going back home takingthe kids trout fishing.
Going back home taking mydaughter hunting and I love
hunting.
I grew up in rural West Virginia.
It's a part of who I am.
My family is poverty strickenVirginia.
(26:21):
It's a part of who I am.
My family is poverty stricken,meaning that we didn't really
have food to get and, by the way, where we live there's only one
grocery store and it's almost30 miles away.
I grew up in the holler, ifyou're familiar with that term,
but that is who I am.
Born and bred.
Appalachian, raised onbluegrass music, and my
grandmother, my grandfather bothmy grandfathers, my dad can
(26:44):
play a banjo and an acousticguitar a mandolin like no one
else.
That gene has skipped me, butit's picked back up with my
daughter because she's startingto play the violin.
But that's the point.
I want to be able to sharethose types of experiences with
my family.
All right, team.
(27:08):
So here's some final thoughts aswe wrap up this episode.
What makes highly successfulpeople able to advance forward
consistently?
It's not luck, it is a plan.
They understand the importanceof casting a long-term vision.
If you want to stay consistent,it's on you and no one else.
(27:30):
Day in and day out, action isrequired to close the distance
and become the person youintentionally choose to become.
The moment you give excuses avoice and stop planning your day
, others will fill that void.
Time is precious and I place iton high because I have so many
(27:52):
different competing events thattry to take away my time.
Take your time and use thisvision framework to cast a
vision for your future.
If you want, you can set up afree coaching call with me and
then I could potentially be youraccountability partner to take
the next steps on this journeyfor you, and I will work with
(28:14):
you to create a custom growthplan or a plan of attack.
So here is our after actionreview, the top three questions
that I want you to spend sometime reflecting on.
The first question is whatwould your areas in life be?
Number two where are you inthose areas currently and are
you happy with the answers?
(28:35):
And number three what would itmean to have a 10-year vision to
work towards?
All right team.
Do me a favor, make sure youshare this podcast, make sure
you rate this podcast.
Go, follow me on social mediaand, as always, you can go to
mcmillianleadershipcoachingcom.
You can find the leadership taband you can find this blog
(28:58):
article and the podcast with anadditional article, all free of
charge, because I want toprovide you with as much
powerful leadership contentpossible to go out into this
world and be the best leader,best version of yourself
possible.
As always, I'm your host, joshMcMillian, saying every day is a
gift.
(29:18):
Don't waste yours.
I'll see you next time.
You're listening to the Tales of Leadership podcast.
This podcast is for leaders atany phase on their leadership
journey to become a morepurposeful and accountable
leader what I like to call a pal.
Join me on our journey togethertowards transformational
leadership.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
All right team.
Welcome back to the Tales ofLeadership podcast.
I'm your host, josh McMillian.
I'm an active duty servicemember, I'm an army leadership
coach, I run my own leadershipcoaching company and I'm just on
a journey to become the bestleader possible, and I'm on a
mission to end toxic leadershipand build a better leader what I
like to call a purposeful,accountable leader and I'm going
(00:42):
to do that by sharingtransformational stories and
skills.
And on today's episode we aregoing to be doing a deep dive
and something that I have beenusing for several years now in
my life, and I call it vision.
And we're gonna break down thatword of what I mean when I say
vision, and going through theacronym, because if you've
listened to me at any length oftime, you know that I love
(01:05):
acronyms.
So I have created a system thatyou can use to create a vision
for your life, for yourself, oryou can even apply this to work,
to start leaning into thefuture and grow into the person
that you want to be.
So let's go ahead and jumpright in.
(01:26):
So vision is among the mostoverused words in, I believe,
the civilian or the militaryrealm.
Often, leaders createshort-term concepts that only
impact the organization whenthey are in a leadership
position.
However, a vision must outliveyou and scare others due to its
(01:46):
sheer scope, and here is a goodexample of that.
Take Bill Gates, for example.
His vision is to place one PCon every desk in the world.
That requires long-termcommitment built on shared
values.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
When leaders cast a vision for their future they
force collaboration andcommunication.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
So remember that when we have a long-term vision, two
things collaboration andcommunication in their teams and
in their personal lives.
To achieve the extraordinary,you must frame the challenges
relative to your capacity.
Too small of a vision leads toexpected results.
You're going to get easy wins.
That's too easy To be bold, tobe unrealistic, you fall into
(02:35):
developing the requiredresources.
Too small a vision leads toexpected results.
Too bold, it becomesunrealistic and you fail to
develop the resources requiredto actually achieve it.
So I've created a system that Icall Vision V-I-S-I-O-N to help
you break through that mentalfog and start building traction
(02:58):
for your personal andprofessional life.
And remember this purposefulful, accountable leaders or pals
inspire themselves and others bycreating a realistic vision
that gets the head and the heartaligned.
And here's a quote to startthis off A vision inspires
scares and demands a responseall at the same time.
(03:19):
So the first one, starting offwith with V, is validate your
pillars.
Regardless of your backgroundor the current season of life
that you're in, we all haveareas that are extremely
important to us.
Pillars are areas in life thatact as anchor points as we
(03:40):
progress on our leadershipjourney.
Remember, when I defineleadership, I really mean that.
That's life.
We're all on this journeytogether and we are all leaders
because we have to learn to leadourselves first before we can
lead other people.
Your pillars must be broadenough to look into the future
but specific enough to inspireothers to act.
(04:02):
Here's a great book and it'scalled Vivid Vision and it's a
great resource to really'scalled Vivid Vision and it's a
great resource to really helpyou to discover what your
pillars are.
But one thing I've learned ifyou read ULA how to Build a
Balanced Life in an UnbalancedWorld, or that one thing all the
books, they all have the samepillars.
So it's really up to you.
(04:23):
You need to create your ownpillars and some of those areas
may be the same, but what'simportant is that you're setting
those areas in life that youchoose to intentionally grow in.
That's key.
Be intentional To inspire you.
My pillars follow.
I like to call KISS that'sanother acronym within an
acronym You're welcome, keep itsimple, stupid, and I use it all
(04:47):
the time and those are family,faith, finance, field, fitness,
fun and fulfillment, and thoseall lead into what I like to
call my seven freedom growthgoals.
So everything that I do in lifeis really gained towards
freedom.
But those seven individualpillars that I just provided you
(05:10):
hopefully inspired you to findyour own all lead to my
long-term vision of what I'mtrying to achieve.
And again, these are notgroundbreaking.
If you read any of those booksthat I just provided you, they
are in there.
Tony Robbins says success leavesbreadcrumbs, and there's a
(05:30):
reason why these are allessentially the same.
They are anchor points.
They allow you to gauge if youare on course, and there's no
perfect number of these areasthat you should have in your
life.
However, I highly recommendthat you limit yourself to no
more than seven.
You are only diluting yourvision once you cross that
(05:51):
threshold and allow your goalmindset to really start to take
place.
So remember what I mean betweena growth mindset and a goal
mindset.
Growth mindset is thestretching us beyond our current
capability.
Growth mindset is or goalmindset is, essentially, we're
(06:12):
knocking down targets and we'rechasing that dopamine kick.
We're never really growing intoanyone that we want to.
We're only solely focused onthe goal, and that's what I mean
growth versus goals.
When we have a growth mindset,we may not achieve some of our
(06:32):
short-term goals, but that'sokay because we're iterating.
We're becoming better everysingle time and that's what is
most important.
Remember, it's not aboutcreating goals and accomplishing
them.
The more profound point ofcasting a vision is identifying
the person you choose to become,and purposeful, accountable
leaders are intentional withtheir chosen pillars and they
(06:56):
understand that goals are notthe outcome but the process to
achieve those results.
And if you go toMcMillianLeadershipCoachingcom
and I probably should have saidthis at the beginning you can
read this blog article that Ihave accompanied with this and
to include, have said this atthe beginning, you can read this
blog article that I haveaccompanied with this and to
include, listen to this podcast,and that way you don't have to
take any notes.
(07:16):
But there's a picture that Ishared underneath in the article
and it's a Glasgow Cathedral.
It's one of the oldestcathedrals in the United Kingdom
and my wife and I had the honorto kind of visit this beautiful
place and when you're walkinginside almost a thousand year
old structure and you just seethese pillars that have stood
(07:37):
the test of time, that is whatfoundations are built upon, and
I could not think of a betterpicture to kind of illustrate
the point of validating yourpillars.
So the next one that we'regoing to be going into is I for.
Identify where you are After youselected your pillars.
Identify where you are in thoseareas, understand where you are
(08:00):
is essential in casting along-term vision for your future
.
The hardest part is selectingthe pillars that serve as the
anchor points for our growthgoals.
Each area is not equal to eachother, and this is extremely
important and you need tounderstand and that will impact
the goals that you set.
So I've developed a tool that Icall the will of leadership and
(08:24):
I use it in my coaching, andessentially what it is is.
It's a tool that gauges whereyou are within those pillars.
For example, applying threebasic questions that can
universally be pulled to anypillar that you chose, which
really applies the Likert scale,and here's some example
questions that you couldpotentially see how would it
(08:45):
feel if I failed to meet my10-year goals in the area of
family?
I would then rate my responseon a scale from 1 being not that
bad to 10 being absolutely theworst.
And then, by calling out yourpillars with powerful questions,
you begin to see which areasare most important to you, and
(09:08):
I'll tell you right now familyis the most important area to me
.
Discovering your pillars areweighted different is critical
in setting those goals, and wetalked about that before.
That goals are not important,but this is An area that you're
not emotionally drawn to shouldnot have very challenging goals.
(09:28):
They should be more reasonablegoals.
However, if you are developinga growth plan for the most
critical areas in your life,your goals must inspire, scare
and demand action.
To illustrate this point, Iprovided the will of leadership
on my coaching website,mcmillianleadershipcoachingcom,
(09:48):
and if you want a free copy ofthis, you can just shoot me an
email atmcmillianleadershipcoaching at
gmailcom and I'll send it overto you Absolutely no strings
attached, because everythingthat I do, I do it to genuinely
make this world better, and I'msharing everything that I've
(10:09):
discovered on my leadershipjourney.
Purposeful, accountable leadersown their areas and create a
growth plan matching theiremotional connections.
So the next one on our acronymvision is S for strength
statement, and I shared apicture from my platoon that I
(10:29):
led in southern Afghanistan in2012.
And this picture reallyvalidated one of my strength
statements that I've developedthroughout my life, and it's
every day is a gift, and I'mgoing to say this again in just
a second.
I'm not going to waste mine,but that picture always brings
me back to that moment going towaste mine, but that picture
(10:51):
always brings me back to thatmoment, those nine months that I
spent in afghanistan and someof the men and women that I had
the absolute honor and privilegeto serve with and that I still
talk to to this day.
That affords me into the leaderthat I am now part of.
Casting a vision is creatingalignment in your life, creating
a burning desire to find waysto achieve your goals,
(11:12):
regardless of the obstacle.
A strength statement is justthat.
It is the fuel source or energydepot for when times get tough.
As my friend and vocal coach,liz Howard and if you haven't
heard that episode, make sureyou go back, because she just
gets me fired up every time Italk to her.
(11:33):
She has this level of justenthusiasm and charisma that is
inspiring and I love, lovehaving conversations with her
because she really pushes meoutside of my comfort zone and I
like surrounding myself withpeople like that.
But she is an amazing person.
She is a purposeful,accountable leader.
(11:54):
Make sure you go.
Listen to that episode.
But she said once you find theright note in life, anything is
possible.
A strength statement is yourunique note, only found by deep
reflection.
It serves as an affirmation inimpossible times where moving
forward seems unimaginable.
I've developed my strengthstatement that I've just talked
about before through some of thepast experiences.
(12:17):
What are some of the mostmemorable, tragic, triumphant
moments in your life?
How did you feel during thosetimeframes?
What pushes you to move forwardevery single day?
And again, I discovered mymantra in Afghanistan and a
combination of going through allthese different types of
schools, some strugglespersonally with my family and
(12:41):
mine was every day is a gift.
I refuse to waste any momentthat I have on this earth, any
moment that I have on this earth.
Eventually, I built what mystrength statement is now that
every day is a gift.
I'm not going to waste mine.
So here's the question what isyour strength statement?
Purposeful, accountable leadersdevelop a powerful strength
statement that shines light inthe darkest of times.
(13:03):
So we're working through theacronym vision.
The next one is illustrate 10,five and a one year growth plan.
So the fourth step in casting avision is engaging your head,
heart and getting alignment withthe hands.
So you actually go do the work,you see where you want to go
and you find intrinsicmotivation to go do that Now,
(13:24):
getting the hands enlisted intothe fight, and it's time to put
pen to paper.
I believe casting a vision isbest by looking 10 years out.
And again, if you read VividVision, they will agree with me
why.
It's because I think lifeconsistently changes and we all
have seasons Thinking too far.
Forward defeats the purpose ofcreating a long-term vision
(13:47):
unless it's for an organization.
Forward defeats the purpose ofcreating a long-term vision
unless it's for an organization,and then that is okay because
you can have long arching goals.
But I think I would argue that10 years can easily be focused
on in life as well asorganizationally.
Beyond that timeframe, Ibelieve mental fogs will take
place over time and the purposeof the 10 years is to create a
(14:09):
realistic growth plan thatallows you to move forward.
So start at 10 and work yourway back to five and finally one
year, list the areas you'vechosen to grow in and create
three to five goals per pillarTeam.
Let's take a quick break fromthis episode and I want to share
an additional leadershipresource with you, and that is
(14:32):
one-on-one leadership coachingthrough McMillian Leadership
Coaching.
So what do I do?
I help leaders discover theirpurpose, create a long-term
growth plan and take inspiredaction.
I believe everything rises andfalls on leadership and,
regardless of where you are inlife, one fact is true you are a
leader of others, you are aleader of your family and, most
(14:54):
importantly, you are a leader ofyourself.
To lead others well, thatstarts by leading yourself well.
If you want to learn more, youcan go to
mcmillianleadershipcoachingcomand schedule a free call today.
Back to the episode.
I recommend not surpassing thefive goal mark, because your
(15:15):
attention will shift from agrowth to a goal mindset.
Remember we're trying to setgrowth goals that stretch us
outside of our capacity.
To ensure you're creatingpowerful growth plans, use the
acronym SMARTS.
So I add an S to this, and youprobably heard this framework
before.
It's very popular in systemsengineering and the engineering
(15:39):
trade.
By just broad definition.
It's specific, measurable,achievable, realistic,
time-based.
And then I add the S is shareit, because if you don't share
it with someone, no one's goingto hold you accountable, and I
don't care who you are, even meyou're going to have times where
you just say, hey, I need amiddle break and, to be honest,
(16:02):
one of those times is reallywhere I'm at in my life right
now, but I have people in mylife that keep me accountable.
Each goal must check the block,allowing your next five and one
year plans to become traceablegoals to the leader that you
want to be.
At that 10 year mark, as you'redeveloping your growth plan,
(16:25):
ensure that you're sharing itAgain, we just talked about that
.
If you're married or have asignificant other plan, it with
them.
I've learned that a vision isuseless unless you have a
partner that is willing to growintentionally with you.
At a minimum, they can be anaccountability tree and we've
talked about this before and ifyou haven't heard some of the
(16:45):
previous episodes of where Iexplain this and what
accountability tree is butessentially it's someone who is
deeply rooted that doesn't wantto hear any of your nonsense.
They're here to help you.
They're here to be leaned on intimes when it's tough and
provide shade when theenvironment is too much, but at
the end of the day, they'reunwavering in their support to
(17:07):
push you to be the best versionpossible.
Purposeful, accountable leaders.
Develop a 10, five and one yeargrowth plans, guiding them to
become their best version andthink of it like this 10 years
is.
That is who you want to be andwe're going to talk about this
in the next step of this iswhere I want to be in life.
(17:29):
Against all these differentpillars, five years are
traceable anchor points or TRPstarget reference points along
that vision, and the one year isthe action plan.
This is your 365 day actionplan to get you towards your 10
year vision.
It's all tiny steps.
(17:50):
Think of it like this If youwant to shove an orange which is
your one big goal into a Masonjar, you're not going to be able
to get that in there.
Or if you do, it's definitelynot going to be an orange
anymore.
It's probably going to beorange juice and just tattered
pieces of oranges to get inthere.
It's probably going to beorange juice and just tattered
pieces of oranges to get inthere.
(18:11):
It's definitely going to break.
But if you had equal weight inSkittles, I prefer Skittles over
M&Ms because they just tastebetter.
Let's be real with each other.
That is also my weaknessSkittles.
I love Skittles and equalweight.
Each one is an individual step.
Eventually you will hit yourtarget goal, which is that
(18:38):
weight in oranges.
But it's taken you 40, 50, 60,maybe a hundred Skittles, who
knows.
Sometimes I eat a hundredSkittles in the setting, but
that is the point.
Individual steps it's not justabout going out and making that
10-year vision happenimmediately.
It's going to take time.
It's going to take tons ofindividual steps to get you
(18:58):
towards that.
So that takes us to our nextone for O in vision.
That's own your story.
After you develop that 10, 5,1-year growth plan, it's time to
bring them to life.
In systems engineering, thereis a term called a use case, and
use cases show how users willinteract and use a system being
(19:21):
developed.
They help visualize how thesystem is intended to identify
unseen areas.
Each use case is tied to arequirement and it is traceable
back to the user.
So you see where I'm going here.
When casting your vision, thegoal is to create use cases
centered around your pillars.
(19:42):
For example, how will you growfinancially at the end of that
10 year mark?
For me, I want to be amillionaire, not for selfish
reasons, because I want to havefreedom.
I want to live where I want tolive.
I want to be able to spend timewith my family.
I want to be able to travel andgo see my daughter, who's going
to be in college.
Those are tools that I need tofeed into my 10-year freedom
(20:04):
goal To use these types of usecases.
You must incorporate your goalsbut, more importantly, bring
them to life.
You need to create thatemotional intrinsic motivation.
It's going to get you out ofbed and do these things,
especially when you don't wantto do them.
Each pillar must describe yourfuture so vividly that you can
(20:25):
see it, you can feel it and youcan taste it.
Creating use cases for yourpillars allows you to develop
that intrinsic motivation.
How will you feel in 10 yearsif you're successful?
I guarantee you you will thankyourself for all those countless
hours and individual steps thathave helped you get to where
you are.
What will it mean if you failwhen you're completing your use
(20:49):
case?
If you fail when you'recompleting your use case, you
can start to see the leader thatyou intentionally want to grow
in, and the purposeful,accountable leaders develop
narratives for their future thatinspire them to act.
And I shared a picture of mewhen I was in Scotland.
It was the same trip with theGlasgow Cathedral, but this is
me wearing a kilt.
(21:09):
And if you ever watch theseries Outlander, this was oh
man, I'm going to skip the name,it's the McKenzie's Lollybrook.
There we go, I think Lollybrook.
I was in that castle and I gotto wear a kilt.
This was a bucket list item forme.
(21:30):
For sure of being able to weara kilt.
I want to go back and redo itbecause I wore pants under the
kilt.
I want to be super authenticbecause I am.
My family comes from Scotlandand, a fun fact, back behind me,
I actually have my family crestthat I'm going to be getting
framed, and we have a castle onthe Western side of Scotland.
(21:51):
So I think I'm just going to goclaim that for my birthright,
because why not?
Right?
But I was sharing the picture,for the standpoint is that that
was something that Iintentionally wanted to do when
I started this 10 year visionfor my life, and not only was I
able to achieve it, I was alsoto bring my wife with me so we
could share it together.
(22:11):
And that's what I'm talkingabout.
If you're intentional, you knowwhere you want to go.
The road may be bumpy, it maynot be the exact path that you
thought it would be, but you'restill going to get to that
desired end state.
So here's the final oneEnvision, navigate your battle,
rhythm.
The final step in casting avision comes down to one word
(22:33):
and that's consistency.
Will you stay routine,accountable and disciplined RAD
remember RAD, another acronymwithin an acronym of routine,
accountable and disciplinedleader on your journey To stay
the course, you have to developa battle rhythm, given direction
(22:56):
weekly, to make sure you'reactually taking action.
Start off by setting your dailytop three goals.
What three goals will youaccomplish today and why are
they important to you?
Second, develop a weekly battlerhythm, a plan of attack, with
no more than seven goals Out ofthose seven.
What is the one big thing thatyou have to get done this week?
(23:19):
And that one growth goal, ifachieved, you still are
successful.
Having family appointments,birthdays, work events or
self-growth goals is okay.
And again, remember these areintentional growth goals to help
you in that year plan, to helpyou on the five-year plan, to
help you on the 10-year plan.
These are not just normal,routine things.
(23:41):
I need to go to the grocerystore today.
I need to set up a doctor'sappointment today.
These are things that are goingto push and stretch you to the
individual leader that you wantto be.
Each week is different becauselife gets a vote and that is a
hundred percent okay.
Your goal is to develop a planthat intentionally forces you
(24:04):
forward.
Now, I always love thismetaphor of the American patch
American flag on service membersand why the stars is always
facing forward, because the windis blowing to the front and we
never surrender, we neverretreat.
We're always moving forward.
When we act without a plan, itonly causes an energy loss and
(24:29):
we end up in the same spot.
Finally, I recommend developinga quarterly plan focused only
on significant life events, forexample, family date nights,
significant travel, or one yeartargets of where you
intentionally have planned for.
So, for example, this year wewant to go to Great Wolf Lodge.
(24:51):
When we get to a next quartercycle, meaning every three
months, we will look at thecalendar and we'll try to figure
out when we can fit that intoour life, because life gets a
vote.
I'm getting ready to startanother job, which I've only
been working in the job that I'min right now for eight months.
Welcome to the Army, and that'sokay, because we practice what
(25:14):
we preach of being resilient andtrying to adapt to the ever
changing situation, and I'mgoing to go in there with the
same principles and lessons thatI've learned throughout my
military career and I'm going tomake it the best possible team
that I can.
For instance, under one of myfaith pillars and this is
another one my one year goal wasto attend a marriage retreat
(25:35):
and we're trying to do that inAugust, but maybe I can't do
that with the job that I'mgetting ready to take.
But the point is we need toplan out our yearly events and
three month chunks to helpdeconflict life's competing
goals.
If you're playing significantevents in the present, you will
(25:58):
find an a hundred percent cause.
I used to do this.
Excuses to not do them.
My wife and I would always talkabout doing these amazing
things going back home takingthe kids trout fishing.
Going back home taking mydaughter hunting and I love
hunting.
I grew up in rural West Virginia.
It's a part of who I am.
My family is poverty strickenVirginia.
(26:21):
It's a part of who I am.
My family is poverty stricken,meaning that we didn't really
have food to get and, by the way, where we live there's only one
grocery store and it's almost30 miles away.
I grew up in the holler, ifyou're familiar with that term,
but that is who I am.
Born and bred.
Appalachian, raised onbluegrass music, and my
grandmother, my grandfather bothmy grandfathers, my dad can
(26:44):
play a banjo and an acousticguitar a mandolin like no one
else.
That gene has skipped me, butit's picked back up with my
daughter because she's startingto play the violin.
But that's the point.
I want to be able to sharethose types of experiences with
my family.
All right, team.
(27:08):
So here's some final thoughts aswe wrap up this episode.
What makes highly successfulpeople able to advance forward
consistently?
It's not luck, it is a plan.
They understand the importanceof casting a long-term vision.
If you want to stay consistent,it's on you and no one else.
(27:30):
Day in and day out, action isrequired to close the distance
and become the person youintentionally choose to become.
The moment you give excuses avoice and stop planning your day
, others will fill that void.
Time is precious and I place iton high because I have so many
(27:52):
different competing events thattry to take away my time.
Take your time and use thisvision framework to cast a
vision for your future.
If you want, you can set up afree coaching call with me and
then I could potentially be youraccountability partner to take
the next steps on this journeyfor you, and I will work with
(28:14):
you to create a custom growthplan or a plan of attack.
So here is our after actionreview, the top three questions
that I want you to spend sometime reflecting on.
The first question is whatwould your areas in life be?
Number two where are you inthose areas currently and are
you happy with the answers?
(28:35):
And number three what would itmean to have a 10-year vision to
work towards?
All right team.
Do me a favor, make sure youshare this podcast, make sure
you rate this podcast.
Go, follow me on social mediaand, as always, you can go to
mcmillianleadershipcoachingcom.
You can find the leadership taband you can find this blog
(28:58):
article and the podcast with anadditional article, all free of
charge, because I want toprovide you with as much
powerful leadership contentpossible to go out into this
world and be the best leader,best version of yourself
possible.
As always, I'm your host, joshMcMillian, saying every day is a
gift.
(29:18):
Don't waste yours.
I'll see you next time.
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