If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you. Steve Jobs

I love to run. I’ve been doing it for nearly 40 years… however, sometimes my running gets stale and I have difficulty staying focused and motivated. I know its good for my health and my mental state but I sometimes lose motivation and I start getting lazy. Then, I register for an event and this ignites a focus, an energy, a purpose.

My running had gotten boring and laborious recently and then just yesterday, I signed up for October’s Half Ironman in Waco, Texas. My run workout this morning took a completely different tone. I had more energy, more bounce, and my running now had purpose. I had a vision – a vision of training for and completing the challenging Half Ironman six months from now.

That is what a vision does. It creates energy, motivation, purpose… I should not be surprised by the impact registering for a Half Ironman has on my workouts. After all, I preach the importance of vision in leadership and in business every single day.

In teams and organizations, a vision creates energy, focus, passion. It focuses and concentrates effort so that day-to-day demands do not distract individuals, teams or organizations from the larger more important objectives and purpose. A vision engages people. It incites efforts beyond the non-discretionary and inspires efforts into the discretionary. A vision energizes people to go beyond the minimum and a vision will motivate people to bring their 110% selves. How does vision impact you? Are you a leader with vision? Is your team or organization being inspired with a vision?