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In the book Alice in Wonderland is a profound exchange between two of the story’s characters; Alice, the little girl who’s found herself lost in the forest and the Cheshire Cat – a strange feline who intermittently appears during Alice’s jaunt in Wonderland. Their brief conversation goes as follows:

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to walk from here? asked Alice.
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” responded the cat.
“I don’t much care where,” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t much matter which way you walk,” replied the cat.

Without a vision of where you want to go, there’s little to no chance that you’ll end up in a place you’d ultimately like to be. Joy isn’t a matter of chance. It is the result of a living with vision, integrity and work ethic.

Vision is the life-blood success. It helps us achieve our greatest desires and goals. Without it, the discouragement and challenge that inevitably rear their ugly heads in all of our lives can wear down even strongest among us. However, vision produces hope to continue to persevere even in the bleakest of times. With our eye fixed on a brighter future, even the darkness of a bleak present can’t break our determination to continue to press on toward our goal. The clearer the vision, the more motivating and empowering it becomes to us.

With that in mind, do you know where you’re going? Have you taken the time to formulate a clear vision of where you eventually want to be in ten, fifteen years both personally and professionally? If not, I suggest to you that having such a plan is crucial to your personal happiness and success.

Got vision? If you don’t, get some. It does every-body good.