Are You Stepping Into the Room with a Vision of Success? By Michelle J. Miller

In too many instances, people have a vision of success until the time comes when they have to walk in the room with confidence. It is like the inevitable shrinking woman; you think big things about yourself, your skills and what you bring to the table and then began to shrink in certain atmospheres. For example, there are times when I am the only woman, the only person of color and one of the youngest people in a room. Early in in my career, I felt uncomfortable and I began to minimize my contribution (or let others minimize it). Well, one day the lights turned on in mind and I realized that I was playing small when I was a major contributor to the success of an issue. Simply put, I realized that my playing small does not serve the world and the same is true for you. The world needs what we have and we are going to release it one client, one corporate initiative, one business endeavor at a time. I selected this photo for a reason; because red represents power. This photo became a picture of how I confessed that I would walk in a room – with a vision of success in accordance with the power I had within me to make things happen. Get ready to put on your power suit or your power pumps because it is time to walk in the room with confident about your vision of success. The days of you playing small ends NOW!

So how do you stop “playing small” and step into a room with a vision of success? Here are 5 VISION STRATEGIES to help you stop shrinking and start stepping into a room with a vision of success:

VISION STRATEGY #1 SEE YOURSELF FOR WHO YOU ARE
Your first strategy is self-reflection. Too many times we see ourselves based on what others have told us or on our on blurred perception of ourselves due to past challenges, experiences or negative words spoken over us. These external and internal misidentification tactics deflect from our true selves and the greatness on the inside of us. As a result, people dictate to your role to you because you did not step into the room with a vision of who you truly are. You have to see that God made you unique and that you bring something to the table that no one else brings. If you didn’t bring something unique you wouldn’t be present, right? RIGHT! Your presence in the room has purpose so your 1st vision strategy is to acknowledge that truth and see it.


VISIONS STRATEGY #2 WRITE THE VISION
Your second strategy is to identify and write the vision of who you are. What vision do you have about your role on a particular matter? If you do not carefully identify your role in a particular situation, there is a high probability that people or circumstances will shift your role in a direction that suits THEIR needs not yours. For example, you may enter a room with someone boisterous that try to cast a shadow on your presence so that he or she can outshine you. DO NOT PERMIT THIS! Your strategy must be that I wrote the vision of my role before I came into the room and no one will change that once I walk in, not even you. If you allow others to write the vision of what you bring to the table you are devalued and no one has the power to belittle you without your permission. For this reason, your strategy is to have your visions of success written and you are walking into the room to execute it. 

VISION STRATEGY #3 ACTIVIATE YOUR MOGUL MINDSET
Your third strategy is to makeover your mindset. One of the definitions of a mogul is an important or powerful person. As Viola Davis’ character Aibileen in the Help “You is kind, You is Smart, You is Important.” You must makeover your mindset in a way that you always tell yourself “I am important!” and when you make that statement you have no other option, but to step in to a room with a vision of success. Your strategy it to do whatever it takes to keep your importance on the forefront of your mind, especially when situations happen to make you feel less than important. The mindset of a mogul is not based on feelings, it is based on the reality that you are the very important person (VIP) of your life and you simply need to exercise that VIP power. 

VISION STRATEGY #4 REMOVE THE COMPETITION
Your fourth strategy is to remove the competition. After implementing the first three strategies, the fourth strategy should be easy. Why is this vision strategy easy? It is easy because at this point you should know that your competition does not exist. I’ve heard people profess that they do not have competition, until they began to encounter high level executives or the potential to work with a multi-million dollar brand. It as this point some people get concerned about competition because they think that are in the midst of rare opportunity. The reality is if you had no competition for a $10,000 deal that was meant for you so it is for a $10,000,000 deal that’s meant for you. I recall being nervous when I drafted my first multi-million dollar contract and thought one of the other guys would be better at this because they had many more years of experience. Why was I nervous? I had to say this is like any other contract with some extra zeroes that is it! Plus, in the end the experience of others didn’t matter because I was still doing multi-million dollar deals when they were long gone – the opportunity was for me. When you remove the competition, that doesn’t truly exist, you have the ability to step into the room with a vision of success and execute your personal power to shine bright no matter what situation you find yourself in. 

VISION STRATEGY #5 SEE YOURSELF WINNING
Your fifth and final strategy is to see yourself winning. You should never wake up and walk out the door with a defeatist attitude. Once you implement the strategies of (1.) identifying your truth set, (2.) writing the vision of your role in your life situations, (3.) making over your mindset, and (4.) removing the competition; your final strategy is to see yourself winning. 

Create a mental picture in your mind as to what success look link in the situation you are about to encounter. You have to see yourself winning and then you will implement the attitude and actions so that you win. Remember, in this instance winning is not about competition. Winning is not just having a temporary vision of success; it is walking in the reality of your success.

Connect with Michelle J. Miller on Twitter @michellejmiller or On Instagram @iammichellejmiller and look out for her new and improved website MichelleJMiller.com for more information, book releases and event announcements.