Take a good look at the world…what amazing and great things do you desire to create for yourself? What do you want your life to look like, 1, 3, 5 years from now? What do you look like? How do you dress? Where do you live? What’s your schedule look like? Maybe it’s an ideal relationship, a beautiful home, a meaningful career or business, a healthy family, to travel the world…whatever it may be, you must be able first begin to close the gap on the idea that you are separate from those things. You must see them within you. You must see that you hold all of the potential and resources necessary to create them within you. Do you see all the determination, focus, persistence, patience, and courage within you to create what you want to be, do, and have in your life? It’s all there… call them out.
“Life is just a mirror, and what you see out there, you must first see inside yourself” – Jacob Bigelow
Vision is a wonderful thing. You can often recognize your personal vision because it creates moments where it pulls you forward towards your goal and makes all the work worthwhile. It can be said that nothing happens until there is vision. But it equally true that a vision with no underlying sense of purpose, no calling, is just a good idea – all “sound and fury” signifying nothing”.
Peter Senge, one of my favorite authors on this topic, writes “vision is multifaceted. There are material facets of our visions, such as where we want to live and how much money we want to have in the bank. There are personal facets, such as health, freedom, and being true to ourselves. There are service facets, such as helping others or contributing to the state of knowledge in a field. All are part of what we truly want.”
People often struggle talking about their vision because they are acutely aware of the gap between their vision and their current reality. But think a about it, shouldn’t there be a gap? Gaps are not necessarily a bad thing because of the energy it can produce. Senge writes there is a creative source of energy that can be found in this gap. Because if there was no gap, there would be no need for any action to take place.
The Law of the Rubber Band
Imagine a rubber band, stretched between your vision and your current reality. When stretched, the rubber band creates tension, representing the tension between vision and current reality. What does tension seek? Resolution or release. There are only two possible ways for the tension to resolve itself: pull reality toward the vision or pull the vision toward reality. Which occurs will depend on whether we hold steady to the vision.
My mentor and author, John C. Maxwell wrote the Law of the Rubber Band in the 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. He writes, “Growth stops when you lose the tension between where you are and where you could be”.
So where are you? And how much tension are you holding between your current reality and the vision you hold for the different facets in your life?
This is an important step to make whether its individual growth and organizational growth. If you’re not sure where you’re at or you’re unsure of your vision, contact me. I would love to help you grow further.