Your Vision will be Challenged
 
I have seen all too frequently people with vision face serious opposition.  Vision has a way of making controlling people nervous and insecure people angry.  You may remember 15-year old Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban, for promoting “Western thinking.”  Thankfully she recovered and has remained a courageously advocate.

She is not alone. Only a few hundred years before scientists were threatened with retribution, even death, for envisioning “ridiculous” things like the earth being round, and that the sun was at the center of our solar system.  Author Chuck Swindoll asserts, “You haven’t really led until you have become familiar with the stinging barbs of the critic. For the leader, opposition is inevitable.”

Also, failed plans do not mean that your vision has failed.  John C. Maxwell writes, "Failed plans should not be interpreted as a failed vision. Visions don't change, they are only refined. Plans rarely stay the same, and are scrapped or adjusted as needed. Be stubborn about the vision, but flexible with your plan."

How to Practice Vision
 
When I coach business people and individuals on the importance of vision, I tell them to start their visionary thoughts with the words “I see…”  “I see…” statements are followed by vision thoughts that are:

• Intense – vision invokes strong feelings.
• Personal – vision is unique to the one envisioning.
• Vivid – vision often takes on the properties of a mental picture.
• Passionate – vision is something that we must do. 

Stepping back and contemplating vision has birthed businesses, started great philanthropic works and helped people like you and I understand our own personal life mission. Jonathan Swift wrote “Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.”  Jack Welch has this to say, "Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion."

I have found this process to be nothing short of POWERFUL!

Beginning to Dream
 
Michael Hyatt wrote an article describing his journey of taking a struggling company from an “ash heap” to a place of success.  He acknowledges his natural bent to think too small. He says, “Through the years, I had learned that if you think about strategy (the “how”) too early, it will actually inhibit your vision (the “what”) and block you from thinking as big as you need to think.” … “The problem is that people get stuck on the how. They don’t see how they could accomplish more, so they throttle back their vision, convinced that they must be “realistic.” 

Taking Hyatt’s advice, to dream big we need to discipline ourselves to focus more on the “what” instead of the “how.”  The level of discipline to do so varies from person to person depending on their personality type.  As an example, I must be very disciplined because I am a strategic thinker. I must resist the temptation to jump prematurely to strategy.  People with personalities different from mine find it easier to focus on the “what” and avoid jumping to the “how.” 

Harriet Tubman’s famous quote is great motivation to dream; "Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."