In a video interview with the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO), Nick Leighton, bestselling author of Exactly Where You Want to Be explains why it is so important for business owners to have a both a personal and business vision that is aligned…

EO Interviewer: So, what are, if you had to pick like one or two questions, from both personal and business, what do you think are some of the most important questions to ask yourself to kind of understand what your purpose is and why you are in business?

Nick Leighton: Okay. When we look at personal life, we're trying to look at the connection between personal and business. Once we understand what we love and we don't love – we’ve kind of covered that. Also, how much time we want to work? What's your time commitment is to the business? What kind of vacation time you want?

Business owners often feel guilty about taking vacation. We shouldn’t. It’s how we refresh and recharge.

Then we need to look at all other elements outside of business. What gives you personal satisfaction? Family involvement? Health & nutrition? Spiritual beliefs? All these elements need to come into play as well as your exit plan from a business. That you're personal.

Then we look on the business and we do the same kind of questions, but in a business context. Now here's what's important. Can your personal vision and your business vision be aligned?

I like to imagine it kind of like riding a bicycle. As an entrepreneur we have the privilege of having a bicycle and we’re in charge of that bicycle. We use the steering wheels to control the front wheel of the bicycle. That's how it works. Right? Okay. So, your personal vision is like your front wheels, right? Okay. Now we also have the power of the back wheels. That's your business and that's where your pedals are connected to.

If your personal and your business vision are aligned, your wheels are in the right direction. Then it's like slightly downhill with the wind behind you. It's fantastic. Right? But when these get slightly misaligned, we fall over.