As one who is always on the lookout for interesting and creative ideas, my friend and editor Tom Bruein of Sharp Editing (www.sharpediting.com) showed me this great TV commercial that Bank of America (B of A) recently aired.

The commercial, which takes place in an urban setting, shows pedestrians peering into a suspended B of A logo where they see themselves living out an ambition such as buying a home, enjoying retirement and taking a company public on the NYSE. It also shows a young boy not yet tall enough to see his reflection, using a loaded trash bag to boost himself to see his future as a doctor performing a surgery. It’s all very inspiring.

Having seen this commercial, I can’t help but ask you the following –

If this were possible and you could look into your future to see your ambitions playing out – what would it look like? Do you see success where you want to be successful?

Many of us have an idea of what we want our successful future to be. Perhaps it’s more of what has already been accomplished, or it’s a desire for a better result in some other aspect of your life or business. Whatever it is, do you really know what success looks like?

When I left my banking career, my old friend and client Chris Mottinger, Principal of the Mottinger Real Estate Group (www.mottingergroup.com), made a statement to me that I’ll never forget. “It will be very important to define what success looks like to you.”

I believe that we greatly improve the odds for success in any area of our life, if we’re clear about what that is. So, if you haven’t done it yet - spell it out! Define, on paper, in vivid detail what success looks like for you.

Napoleon Hill, author of the bestselling classic, Think and Grow Rich, said “What the mind of a man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”

Conceiving – that’s what comes first. That’s the vision. That’s the clarity. That’s what you see.