YodZiaN

I recently listened to the audio book, ?Fish Tales.? This is an incredible story about John Yokoyama, the owner of the Seattle Pikes Place fish market and how he took it from a struggling work place, where staff fights and employee walk-outs were the norm to the financially successful, world-famous fish market that is today.

Do you know what he attributed his success to? Connecting his staff to a unified purpose. He did this by working with his staff to identify their mission/vision. Pick up most any book on building a thriving business and you will find this is one of the key ingredients to business success. This same concept applies to creating financial success in your personal life.

I?m guessing you?re probably a bit like I was. You?re familiar with the idea of writing a vision or mission for your business, but you haven?t created one for your personal life. But in case you?re not familiar let me give you two very simple definitions: A vision provides you with a visual image of what you?re striving towards. A mission connects you with your life?s purpose.

Creating Our Own Vision

During a recent camping trip I asked my husband, ?Would you be willing to work with me to create a mission/vision for our marriage and our financial life?? He agreed. What could our vision be? We wondered. During an afternoon hike we brainstormed ideas. We agreed that we wanted our vision to be simple. Finally, after much discussion we came up with our vision, ?world-class winners.?

?What exactly does that mean?? You might wonder. Let me begin by saying that a mission is very personal. It is important that it resonate for both of you as a couple.

This is what our vision means to us: My husband and I strive to be a winning team when it comes to handling our finances and communicating as a couple. Here?s one example of how this mission/vision has guided us in our relationship.

Using Our Vision as a Guiding Force in Our Lives

During a recent argument (or should I say disagreement?!), I was upset with my husband, certain that I was right, and he was wrong. However, in a brief moment of clarity I said a quick prayer asking for how to best handle our disagreement. Immediately, the following thought entered my mind, ?How would a world-class winner handle this situation right now?? The answer came to me. ?A world-class winner would remain calm, hear her husband?s point of view, and yet speak her truth as well, without blame or judgment.?

I immediately implemented my inspiration.

The outcome amazed me. Yes, I still felt tension as we discussed the issue, but I didn?t react or blame, which in turn had a calming affect on my husband. He became more understanding and less defensive.

Don?t? get me wrong; we don?t always have the clarity of mind to take the high road. However, when we feel stuck we ask ourselves, ?How would a world-class winner handle this situation?? As a result of continually asking this question, we gain new insight and direction.

We also apply this to our finances. We strive to approach our finances as world-class winners. This means that we use cash for purchases (instead of credit cards), track our expenses, set financial goals as a couple and have consistent ?Dates? with each other to discuss our finances and create a financial plan.

The world-class part comes from the vision that we hold for ourselves. Perhaps the way we approach our marriage and manage our finances can serve as an example to others.

How Does This Apply to You?

What is the vision you have for your life and financial situation? Think about this as you go about your day. What do you want to accomplish, and how do you want to affect others? Powerful visions begin with how we act as individuals and end with how we can affect the world, even in small ways. A vision gives you something to strive towards.
And remember, it doesn?t mean you have to be perfect, it just means that you commit to keep showing up and staying the course each day.

Leslie Cunningham, CTACC, ?The Couples Financial Communication and Action Expert,? has over 17 years experience as a service professional. She helps couples build wealthy relationships and turn their money