Evan Carmichael explains that a vision is an emotionally charged big-picture image of a better world, while goals are concrete, measurable steps toward it. His example: a vision of people learning to follow their passion becomes a goal of implementing a dedicated class in every North American high school.
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What's the difference between goals and vision? So I got a great question from my newsletter viewers, readers, love you guys, Nitesh, who wrote in to say, "Dear Evan, thank you once again for sharing your thoughts and examples. I'm happy to learn it. I have a question for you. I'd like to know your views on it because in this topic I find my mind wandering, but lately I'm trying my best to get focused. What is goals and vision? What does it mean to you?" What are the differences between them? Why is it so important to write down your goals? I'm looking forward to your views on it. I really want to learn on this topic. I want to have a vision and set goals. Thank you, Nitesh. So it's important as an entrepreneur to have both vision and goals, and here's what the difference is. Your vision is the better world that you see, the world that you want to help create. So for me, I might say I envision a world where People learn to follow their passion. Where growing up in school, when your parents and your community— you learn that following your passion is important. Where do we learn that? We don't learn that anywhere. You don't learn that in school. We learn about, you know, math and history and all that is important and give us the tools to succeed in the job. But where do you ever learn that, hey, following your passion is important? I envision a world, and I'm trying to help create that world, where that is a reality. I envision a world where people believe in themselves, where they have the self-confidence to launch their own things, to know that it's going to work, to not listen to the little man in their lives who tell them that it's not going to happen. I envision a world where there's no little man, right? Where this is something that people strive to do, that it's just natural and normal and commonplace that you believe in yourself and you are following your passion. Ah, this is ingrained into me now. And I try to help other people see that. I envision a world where everybody is on the same page. That's a vision, right? What better world do you want to create? Okay, it's a big picture thing. Your goals are more tangible. They're quantifiable. They're measurable. They're steps to help you accomplish your vision. That dreamy world that I just talked about, how do I make that happen? What are some measurable goals that I can go towards? So for example, if my vision was, I want everybody in North America to grow up learning how to believe in themselves and to follow their passion, okay? I think that math and history are important subjects, and following your passion is just as important, and giving people the skills and tool sets to do it. So that's the vision I'm creating. A goal might be that every No high school in North America has a class dedicated to teaching people the importance of how to find your passion and the steps on how to do it, right? So that's a goal. It's quantifiable, it's measurable, and if I achieve that, then you can go to a bigger goal and a bigger goal and a bigger goal. And all these goals that you track and measure build up to help you create your bigger vision, this huge vision of the world that you want to change. Okay, so that's the difference. Again, vision, big picture, almost intangible. It's something that makes you feel something, right? It's a, it's a better place for the world that you may never even accomplish in your lifetime. Goals, quantifiable, smaller, measurable, and stepping stones to get to your vision. You start off with a smaller goal and build up until you get to your bigger goal, bigger goal, bigger goal, as you build towards that better world and creating your vision, making it reality. Thanks for the great question, Believe. For those of you watching watching. I'd love to hear what your goals are, what your visions are. Leave them in the comments below. Let me know what you think the differences are. I'd love to hear your feedback. If you have a question for me, you can leave it below too. I'll make a video response. If you like the video, give it a thumbs up. Makes me want to do more for you. And click on my face to subscribe to the channel. Thank you so much. I'll see you soon.
