Strategic Vision & Specificity

Andy Stanley further describes in his book Visoneering that people without a clear vision are easily distracted. They have a tendency to drift from one activity, pleasure, or relationship to another. Without vision, there is no rational, financial, or moral compass. Consequently, they make foolish decisions that rob them of their dreams.

This is why a vision or strategy are necessary parts of your goal making.

Once your goal is identified and personal value is determined, design your strategy with specificity, measurability and commitment.

If you are not accustomed to making and pursuing goals, you will need to give yourself more direction that you’re used to. To train for the marathon, you will need to do more than merely “train for the race.” Specificity (that is, being specific about the actions you need to take) takes the guess work and confusion out of the training regimen. The more decision making and details you can take care of early on, the less worry and mystery there is about, say, the number of miles you run, when to run, where to run, etc. (these are details we will cover later)


Pick a specific date for a marathon. In fact, the date of the marathon – your end point – is actually the best place to start. As Stephen Covey (author of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) might say, begin with the end in mind. Pick the date of the race and build a strategy that culminates on that date.

Run miles, don’t just train. You know you will need to run regularly to prepare for the race. You know that you’ll need to run long runs too. Take out a calendar – the one with the big “X” on marathon day – and work backwards, selecting the exact days on which you will run specific mileage.

On Tuesday, Thursday and Friday you might run 4 miles each day.

On Wednesday you can rest or lightly cross-train for 30 minutes.

Monday and Saturday you can run easy 2 to 3 miles.

Sunday you will run 10 miles. Next Sunday you will run 12 miles, and 14 miles the following Sunday.

We’ll get into specific training routines later. The above is illustrative.

Knowing that you have to work late on some days, early on others, you will adjust your training schedule precisely to reflect that. So, say, Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are late nights. Your schedule will reflect that and indicate that you run at 5:00 a.m. on Monday and Tuesday, and you will either rest or cross-train on Wednesday. Wednesday’s calendar will precisely reflect what kind of cross-training you will do. Swimming? Walking? Biking? Put it down because come Wednesday morning, if you don’t know, you might easily give up on yourself. The point is that you spell out the details well before you actually run. Also, this helps you track your progress.

Fuel up when the tank is low. You will develop a specific list of grocery items that you will keep supplied to ensure that your body has all it needs maintain endurance. Plan specific foods and meals for breakfast, snacks, lunch and supper. Failure to do so means you will likely improvise with what is easiest and most attainable: junk food. A Big Mac or bag of chips might feel mighty satisfying in the moment, but when you’re bloated, poorly nourished and constipated, don’t come crying to me. In fact, keep your distance and go eat some roughage.

Two nights before your long run, it is good to eat a pasta supper. If Sunday is your long run day, then noodle up on Friday. Friday becomes pasta night.

These are just a couple of examples. What’s important to grasp is that specificity means mining down to the smallest detail of your goal-oriented actions.

You have to know the specific details ahead of time; otherwise, each day will be wasted wondering if you’re running the right number of miles and if you’re making progress.

In fact, specificity is the way to chart your progress. By establishing the specific steps you need to take to reach your goal, when a specific task is done, you have validated that you’re getting closer to the proverbial – and actual – finish line. Specificity – the act of being specific about the steps necessary for progress – is an important feature of all honest goal making in life.

If you want to get from one end of your house to another, well, that’s a goal.

Plotting a course through the living room and family room and hallway to get to the other side – that’s a strategy.

Specificity is detailing step by step, maneuvering around a piece of furniture, turning a knob and opening the family room door, and turning on a light so you can see down the hallway.

Specificity also means empowerment. The more details you control in your life and in goal making, the more your life is under your command (as opposed to your boss, group of friends, family, society, etc.).

As tedious as it seems, it is this kind of detail that supports the success of great achievers in business, sports, celebrity, and life.