One of key ideas that I always try to get across on this website is that we alone are responsible for where we are, and by this I mean the the thoughts, ideas and repetitive actions that we all take are responsible for our destiny.
In the simplest terms, if you were to get into a taxi, the first thing the driver would say to you is, where do you want to go? and lets just say you said to the driver, it doesn’t matter, just keep driving, after a while because of the taxi drivers own objectives, even they would get a little fed up.
This is because vision is the parent of direction, and today I want to share some ideas with you about having a vision for your life.
Unfortunately we sometimes tend to associate vision with our ideas of visionaries.
So its easier to look at a great entrepreneur, a Richard Branson or a Steve Jobs and say they are the ones with vision, but vision is applicable to everyone.
From childhood and for the main development years that followed, my vision was to be a successful musician, but as I started learning how to change my life and habits, crafting a new vision, I realised that people avoid creating a vision for their lives because they believe the exercise is futile.
I mean why make a vision when it’s impossible to accomplish those things anyway?
I think it is important for you to know the difference between a vision and a goal
Goals are individual experiences and accomplishments you strive for. A vision is the bigger picture. Your life’s vision defines who you want to be, what you want to be known for and the set of experiences and accomplishments you aim for. Your vision helps define the goals by giving you a framework to evaluate those goals.
Your vision becomes your why.
Let me introduce you to 3 friends and they are the What, the How and Why, who will help us on our journey.
What
What is the most exciting part of the equation, it is the ‘new years resolution’ part of any goal and states what you would like to achieve.
How
How is the mechanics of how you intend to achieve your goal for example; ‘I am going to exercise 3 times per week’.
It is also the equivalent to the map.
When traveling to a destination, the satellite navigation gives you the opportunity to enter the destination details, and you are provided with an estimated time of arrival, provided you travel at a constant speed.
Why
Why is the big one, and is the reason you want to achieve your goal.
The reason that I wanted to introduce you to these guys is because when faced with a situation, or a life change, one of the first questions we ask is ‘what am I going to do?’
The question is valid, but quite often it leads to ‘how am I going to do it? and if you aren’t thinking correctly, then the feelings of overwhelm can quite often overtake you.
The reason why vision is so important, is because every achievement is subject to hitting a brick wall, and every person suffers from ‘The dark night of the soul’. This is the period of time when the methods of the how are questioned, and you wonder whether the what is really worth it.
The bible passage ‘where there is no vision, the people perish’ Proverbs 29:18 provides the simplest of explanations: Without vision, or a strong why, there is often little reason to persist in the face of adversity.
I recommend the following:
Get a strong why, it will give clarity to the what, and in the face of difficulty, the how will always appear.
