Ever heard the saying that when you're passionate about what you do and on fire with desire, people will come from miles around to watch you burn? Well, someone in the USA has been 'on fire with desire' over the last few months, and ended up getting elected President of the most powerful country on the planet. Obama had a vision. Something bigger than himself that millions of people could get hold of. And he had the utmost clarity of that vision. When you wrap your energy and reputation around such a clear vision, you can convince almost anyone to do anything. Here's how...

My friend Daniel Priestley puts on world class events with world class speakers. He writes this:

"Without a clear vision, days turn into weeks, weeks into years and years into decades... all in a blur of seconds. Is there anything more powerful than a clear vision? People who have a clear vision are able to overcome insurmountable odds to achieve unreasonable outcomes.

Think for a moment of the insurmountable odds that Barack Obama faced in becoming the President Elect. His name was similar to two of America's most infamous enemies, he was up against a Clinton, he was up against a war hero, he had the least experience of most candidates, he had no budget and he is a black man in a country that wouldn't have given him the right to vote 55 years ago.

Yet he had a clear vision and he could communicate it with intensity and poise; and on 20 January 2009 he will occupy the White House.

The business world is filled with stories of people who began their meteoric rise with nothing more than a clear vision: Oprah, Gates, Jobs, Branson..."

Think about what you want your reputation to do. You want people to notice you, pay you, engage you, approach you, revere you and respect you. Trouble is, you're too small, not established enough, have strong competitors, are too old, too young, too rich, too poor, too smart, too dumb, too black, too asian, too white, too educated, too lower-class, too experienced or too inexperienced to make it on your own.

What you need is a vision, a struggle, a dream, a notion, an idea or a concept that's bigger than you. So while people come around to noticing you and buying you, they're buying your dream. In doing so, they'll buy your arguments, your excuses, your thoughts and your passion. Now you're building a formidable reputation!

Think big and you can set the world alight. Even if you think s little bit bigger, you can dominate your town, your niche, your sector or your street. Get a vision!