Before we begin our success journey - we have to define our Ultimate Vision and our Ultimate Purpose for what we want. Unless we are clear about the two, it will be a very difficult task to live our dreams and achieve our vision.

For a vision to be powerful, it needs to have a purpose...

Once you are clear about your vision, you determine how to implement it. Then, you begin a journey to achieve, bringing in mentors and other resources all aligned to reach the single vision you have put forward. But to persistently work on your vision, you need to have an equally powerful Purpose.

Imagine your vision in life is to become a Entrepreneur CEO and a Public Speaker. Now, what is the purpose behind this vision? To find it, we can do a small exercise . I will explain the exercise with a story.

An exercise to find your Life Purpose...

Imagine a wooden plank between two buildings - both 80 stories high. The buildings are 50 meters across, and there is a wooden plank to connect them. The wooden plank is up very high and it is very narrow. Now, I say to you - if you cross the wooden plank and reach the other side, I will give you $1 million dollars. Would you do it? Would you risk everything to walk the wooden plank to reach your vision?

Now, if I tell you - at the other side of the building is your family , and you crossing the wooden plank is the only way to save them. Now, would you take a risk to walk the wooden plank?

Here we find a difference in perception. In the first scenario, getting a $1 million dollar reward was not a strong motivating factor to cross the bridge (except maybe for few brave souls!). But for the second scenario, when your family 's life is at stake, you decide to make the leap.

When you knew that if you didn't cross, your family members lives were at stake, you took the leap. What you just experienced is a change in purpose. If the vision is to cross the bridge, the purpose is the reason for crossing it.

Example of Exercising...

Imagine you want to exercise and have been putting that on your to-do lists. And yet, you have been ignoring it for a long time - giving the excuse of not having time or being lazy. Now suddenly, you get ill, and you go to see doctor. The doctor says - the only way we can avoid heavy medication and a potential surgery, is if you exercise every day.

From that day on, you would start exercising no matter how busy your schedule is. Now, you have a powerful purpose (to avoid medication and surgery) to achieve a vision (to exercise everyday).

Vision and Purpose for each slice of our life...

You need to start with the Ultimate vision - where you want to go. For each slice, you should have an ultimate vision and a strong purpose for it. The slices include our Career/Job, Finance, Relationship, Health, Contribution/Spirituality and Personal Mastery. For every slice of our life, we need to define an Ultimate Vision and an Ultimate Purpose.

For many of our visions in life, we don't have a purpose - and most of us don't achieve them. If we want to achieve and live our dreams , our vision should be backed with a strong purpose. This we should have for every area of our life.

Your purpose is more important than your vision...

It is your purpose that will drive your vision. Do you know your Ultimate purpose for your life? Find it - because that will define your vision, and give you the required passion to follow your dreams .

If you feel you are not sticking to a schedule that you have put to achieve a goal - ask yourself, is my purpose strong enough to achieve this goal? Will I be willing to cross the wooden bridge, to achieve this vision? If not, then it does not matter how many productivity tools or systems you use, you will not be able to successfully achieve your goal.

If your purpose is passionate enough to drive your vision, then you will need nothing else to back you in your Success journey. Your purpose will fuel your vision and help you live your dreams.

Author's Bio: 

Sijith Salim - aka- Mind Gardener, is a Peak Performance Coach, NLP Master practitioner, Career Mentor, Author, Speaker and Fitness/Nutrition Expert.

He is a Peak Performance Expert in Selfgrowth.com. http://www.selfgrowth.com/experts/sijith-salim

He also focus on body language, building rapport, mind reading, hand writing analysis, going deep into our mind and its secrets, and skills for effective interpersonal communication.

Sijith is the Founder of personal achievement and peak performance website http://SuccessValley.com .