For those whose goals feel vague. A vision-clarification technique using ChatGPT!

Introduction

Although I started a blog, its design still feels rather immature. In fact, there are many parts that are hard to read. I’m aware of the flaws, but I’m not sure how to fix them. So, I decided to pick up a book on design.
As is obvious in the design world as well, having a clear goal is crucial. When I asked myself if my goal was clearly defined, I realized it wasn’t.
When I thought about my goal, I suddenly remembered a book I read a while ago: “7-day Mastery: Techniques for Moving Instantly” by Yuji Akabane. (As an aside, I actually met the author once and exchanged business cards—I’m a bit of a fan.) The main focus of this book is about taking action quickly. One of its chapters is about writing a VISION. I decided to take that as a reference to draft my own goal.

Steps

Roughly speaking, the process of writing down your VISION, etc., goes like this. For more details, please check the book. (There’s plenty of other useful information in it. Actually, this book might be one of the reasons why I started blogging in the first place.)

1. Write out your VISION = (things you want to do or become)
2. Write down 5–8 points outlining how you will achieve it
3. Once the VISION and your plan of action are set, list 4–5 action plans in bullet points
4. Write down what you want to accomplish in 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months

What follows is a rough draft I wrote without much revision. The must-achieve goals are quite arbitrary. “X amount” is a specific amount of money I kept secret because I couldn’t judge whether it’s large or small.

VISION

Earn an income level that allows me to feel secure without relying on a company, and possess the skills to do so on my own.

How to Achieve It

• Create an IT service and earn income through its usage fees
• Since it’s difficult to charge from the start, earn money from ads first
• Native apps have high barriers to entry, so start with a web app
• Conduct marketing
• Because it’s hard to place ads on a web app, build a blog on the planned domain and try to earn ad revenue there

Action Plan

• Write quality blog articles
• Pass Google’s approval process
• Create multiple web app services (not too large in scale) that can serve as material
• Either charge users for the service or earn ad revenue through a native app

Must-Achieve Goals

I Asked ChatGPT 4.5 for Advice Because It Didn’t Feel Right

Even though I wrote it, it didn’t feel all that compelling. I didn’t get the sense that I could really go forward with this. So, I input the following prompt into ChatGPT 4.5:

## I wrote a VISION and action plan. Could you coach or give me advice?

(The above VISION, etc. was attached)

Advice from ChatGPT 4.5 (ChatGPT’s Thoughts)

It gave a lot of feedback, and the content is pretty spot-on. It really feels like we’re past the era where you have a human boss discuss your goals in a meeting and revise them.

VISION and the action plan are already quite clear, which is a great start!
Here are some coaching points and advice to help you achieve even better results.

🟢 Feedback on the VISION

The VISION is simple and understandable, which is good, but it can become even clearer if you dive deeper into the following:

• What exactly do you mean by “an income level you can feel secure about”? How much per month?
• What specific skills are you referring to when you say “skills that let you not rely on a company”? (Technical expertise, marketing skills, management skills, etc.)

🟢 Feedback on the Plan for Achievement

Your plan is realistic and makes sense, but making it more specific will enhance execution.

Points to Improve:

• What kind of blog will you create, and which target audience will you focus on?
• What exactly will your Web apps do, and which problem will they solve?
• What does “marketing” specifically involve? (SEO, SNS operations, paid ads, etc.)

🟢 Advice for the Action Plan

The Action Plan is organized, but you can make progress more reliably by being more concrete:

• What are the criteria for “quality articles”? (Word count, SEO, reader satisfaction, etc.)
• What are the specific requirements for passing Google’s review? (Minimum number of articles, word count, policies)
• What is the scale of the Web apps you plan to build, and what is the target development period?

🟢 Review and Improvement Points for the Must-Achieve Goals

Your goal setting is appropriate, but to increase the feasibility, make them more concrete.

🔷 Questions to Increase Your Likelihood of Success (Things I’d Like You to Consider)

1. Have you sufficiently thought about the blog’s theme (your strengths, interests, and potential profitability)?
2. How do you plan to choose which Web apps to create and measure their effectiveness?
3. Have you estimated how many users or page views you’ll need to achieve your monthly income goal (X amount)?

🔷 Recommended Next Steps (Things That Are Effective to Do Right Away)

• Decide on your blog’s theme, then do SEO and competitive research.
• For ad revenue, consider not only Google AdSense but other ad methods (affiliate ads, direct advertising).
• List 5–10 specific ideas for Web apps and roughly evaluate the profitability and user demand for each.

If you have more concrete answers, please let me know and I can dive deeper into giving advice.

I Clarified My VISION (My Revision)

It was difficult to think everything through at once, so I entered the following prompt:

This is really tough. As for the VISION, I’m thinking about an amount of X per month as my comfort zone. And by “skills that let me not rely on a company,” I mean the ability to build a service from scratch and bring it to revenue. If I call it some sort of “○○ power,” it might actually sound more abstract, so that’s the perspective I have. It’s almost like starting a company.

ChatGPT’s Advice on Clarifying the VISION and Skills

Everything that was ambiguous started to become clearer. I felt like ChatGPT helped me articulate the fuzzy ideas that were floating around in my head. What it defined as necessary skills surprised me. I decided to dig deeper.

Things have become much clearer now!
This is a great step forward.

To recap:

🎯 Clarified VISION

• Earn around X amount per month on your own (not relying on a company).
• Attain the ability to create a service from scratch and take it to the revenue stage.

That indeed sounds very close to starting a business—like acquiring the ability to be an entrepreneur.

📌 From that perspective, you’ll need:

1. Planning Skills (the ability to turn ideas into reality)
   • Finding problems and shaping them into a service
2. Technical Skills (the ability to build a service)
   • Capabilities to develop and operate an IT service (especially a Web app)
3. Marketing Skills (the ability to expand your service)
   • Proficiency in SEO, SNS, ads, etc., to attract users
4. Monetization Skills (the ability to turn a service into profit)
   • Knowledge and practice in ads, subscriptions, paid plans, etc.

🚩 Points to Focus on in the First Six Months

• Just keep creating small services and releasing them to gain experience.
• Even if it’s only a few users, get real feedback by having actual users use your released service.
• Earn even a small revenue and experience a successful pattern firsthand.

🚩 Specific Questions to Consider (No Need to Answer, Just for Your Reference)

• How many users are needed to generate X amount per month?
• Which areas do you find interesting and which do you think have market demand?
• If you aim to release your first service “within three months,” what minimal set of features (MVP) do you need?

It feels challenging because the goal is big.
Breaking down a big goal into smaller pieces makes it feel more achievable.

🔷 Recommended Actions (Starting Small)

• Even if it’s tiny, create one blog post or a simple Web service to try right now.
• Adjust your course as you build, making your success vision more concrete.

Let me know if you’d like to decide on “the first action you can take right now” together!

How Should I Approach Improving My Skills? (My Question)

I was already thinking along the same lines about what skills I need, but I didn’t know how to strengthen them, so I asked:

## That’s really helpful. Based on backward planning, how should I proceed to become capable of these things?

Planning Skills (Finding issues, generating ideas) Technical Skills (Ability to develop and operate an IT service, especially a Web app) Marketing Skills (Ability to expand a service via SEO, SNS, ads) Monetization Skills (Knowledge and experience in ads, subscriptions, and paid plans)

ChatGPT Created a Good Plan for Acquiring the Four Skills

I think it’s quite realistic.

Great question!
The four elements you listed (Planning, Technical, Marketing, Monetization) can be developed efficiently in the flow below.

📌 Overall Approach (Working Backwards)

Goal: Be able to build a service independently and earn X amount per month

Working backward from here, the ideal order to develop these four elements is:

(1) Planning Skills (Problem discovery, idea generation) ↓ (2) Technical Skills (Ability to build services) ↓ (3) Marketing Skills (Ability to expand services) ↓ (4) Monetization Skills (Ability to turn services into profit)

Here’s a more detailed explanation of how to build each skill.

🟢 (1) How to Develop Planning Skills

Objective:

• Acquire the ability to conceive services that are genuinely in demand.

How to Proceed:

• Make a habit of noting down your own daily inconveniences or those of people around you.
• Create a list of issues, then look for ones that a Web app could solve.
• Even if there’s already a solution out there, start with a small problem and consider a simple fix (a service idea).
• Repeat this on short cycles (1–2 weeks), focusing on trying small ideas quickly.

Recommended Action:

• This week, list three “small inconveniences.”
• Choose one and outline a simple solution (a Web app idea).

🟢 (2) How to Develop Technical Skills

Objective:

• Acquire the ability to quickly transform an idea into a concrete product (prototype).

How to Proceed:

• Keep in mind “don’t try to build the perfect service from the start.”
• When prototyping, build only minimal necessary features (MVP) and do it quickly.
• Repeat the cycle of “Build → Launch → Refine” by creating small apps and sites multiple times.

Recommended Action:

• Within one month, finish one simple Web app (a single-function app without login).
• Work on it in your free time, like weekends or evenings.

🟢 (3) How to Develop Marketing Skills

Objective:

• Acquire methods to deliver your self-made service to those who need it.

How to Proceed:

• Focus first on “SEO” and “SNS.”
• Learn SEO by writing articles, and pick one SNS channel (e.g., Twitter/X) to regularly promote your app or blog.
• Aim for small milestones (e.g., 100 visitors or users) to gain a sense of success.

Recommended Action:

• Write blog posts regularly and learn SEO basics (titles, keyword selection, etc.).
• Create an SNS account and share your development progress 2–3 times a week.

🟢 (4) How to Develop Monetization Skills

Objective:

• Gain experience generating actual revenue and understand “income generation” firsthand.

How to Proceed:

• Start with advertising revenue (Google AdSense, etc.) or affiliate marketing.
• Focus on generating a small amount of income first (even monthly 1,000–5,000 yen is fine) to see results quickly.
• Observe user reactions to decide whether to implement a paid plan or subscription model later.

Recommended Action:

• Place AdSense on your blog and aim to pass the review (5–10 articles).
• Experience earning revenue early on to understand the system better.

🚩 Example 6-Month Roadmap Combining the Above

🔷 Advice

Don’t try to do everything perfectly at once.
Focus on “small tasks you can definitely complete in a short period” and stack them up.

For now, something you can do this week is “find small problems” and “write or build something simple,” then take the first step without overthinking it.

If you run into any questions or issues along the way, feel free to ask!

Summary

After taking ChatGPT’s advice, my revised plan looks like this. I didn’t expect to get such excellent feedback. I hope to make good use of this VISION. Everything here will serve as a great memo for me.

VISION

Be able to create a service from scratch and bring it to revenue all by myself. Earn X amount per month.

Basic Policies

Focus on developing the following four elements:

1. Planning Skills (finding problems, generating ideas)
2. Technical Skills (building services)
3. Marketing Skills (expanding services)
4. Monetization Skills (turning services into profit)

Action Plan

• Develop the ability to conceive services that people genuinely need.
• Acquire the technical skills to quickly create a working prototype of an idea.
• Master how to deliver self-made services to the people who need them.
• Gain real experience in generating revenue and understand how to make money in practice.

Must-Achieve Goals