New Year Ahead - How’s your Vision?
It’s January 1st, day one of a brand-new year. Nina Simone said it best “It's a new dawn. It's a new day. It's a new life for me. And I'm feeling good.” January 1st sits perched at the very start of the new year like a blank page in a crisp new notebook, just waiting to be written in.
It stands apart from every other day of the year, with its’ very own ‘new car smell’, just beckoning you to get in and take it for a drive somewhere. Excitedly we get into that car, take a deep breath, turn on the ignition and start driving. At first it’s exhilarating, and with the windows down it’s hard not to get lost in that ‘we’re going somewhere’ feeling. But at some point the thought hits us – ‘where exactly are we going’?
Many of us live our lives going from work to home and back again in the same way – going somewhere, just not sure where.
The challenge with that is, just like driving a car, if you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never know when you get there and worse, you’ll eventually run out of gas and get stuck at the side of the road hoping someone comes by to rescue you. If you’ve ever run out of gas, you’ll know it’s not a pleasant ordeal, especially when you find yourself in the middle of nowhere with no cell service.
The same can be said about life – in general, and more specifically your work life. Without a destination in mind, not only is it difficult to know what you need to get there, over time what may have begun as a feeling of carefree freedom, changes to frustration and general malaise as you realize where you are isn’t where you wanted to be. Proverbs 28:19 describes this feeling in this way:
“Where there is no vision,
the people perish”
(Proverbs 28:19, KJV)
Beyond the ability to see and perceive with the eyes, vision is also defined as having a mental image of a future state. It’s this second definition that the bible is talking about, and interestingly it’s the definition used in business as well.
The most successful organizations are built with clear vision, purpose & values at the core of everything they do. And the reason for this success is when their people understand where they’re going, it gives them clarity for what they need to do, and how they need to make decisions. Organizations without vision, are like ships adrift at sea – going nowhere and having little impact.
Vision is knowing where you’re going, it’s the future destination or future state you wish to get to.
The exact same thing can be said about people. Organizations are just groups of people. Whether it’s a big company with hundreds of employees or a family unit of 4 people, both are organizations. The question is what are they organized around? Nothing organizes or brings people together better and faster than having a common vision (where are we going/what do we want to become), that’s powered by a common purpose (why do we want to go there/be that).
The opposite is equally true as well – nothing diminishes unity in any organization faster than a lack of vision. Not only does it foster chaos and confusion, it diminishes the effort and value of your team which leads to people jumping ship.
Pro tip: If you’re a team leader or run a business and you’re having a hard time keeping good people, before you look at external forces like the economy or generational differences, take a hard look internally at your vision. Do you have one? Does your team understand it?
So how do you find your vision?
Remember when you were a kid, being asked ‘what do you want to be when you grow up’? Your mind effortlessly imagined all sorts of possibilities from fireman and astronaut to soccer star – you could be anything you dreamed about.
As an adult however, with adult worries and concerns, who has time for dreaming you ask? While all these things are true, in the context of ‘without vision people perish’ is it possible that we don’t dream at our own peril?
Dreams are the stuff of vision,
because the truth is, everything begins with an idea – a seed of something that isn’t but could be. What we may not realize is the magic happens enroute to that destination, and how you are changed in the process of becoming that future state version of yourself.
The bigger the vision, the greater the transformation that has to happen.
If you’re running a business, leading a team, raising small kids or working for a company and you’re not clear on what your vision for your life or work is, here’s an exercise you can do right now.
Fast forward and imagine yourself or your business in 20 years:
What does your future self/business look like?
What kinds of things is your future self/business doing?
What things are important to your future self/business? What do they value?
Who does your future self/business hang out/work with?
What advice would your future self/business give you today to start, stop or keep doing?
Write the answers to these questions down as though you were talking with that future version of yourself, or if you’re a visual processor create a vision board collage of pictures that bring your answers to life.
The more you can envision, your future self / business,
the greater clarity and direction you’ll start to feel for the immediate year ahead.
From these answers you can start to address things like:
Are you on the right path towards your future self/business? Do you need to change direction?
What new things do you need to start to bring you into closer alignment with the path to your future self/business?
What things do you need to let go of, or stop doing?
What new people do you need to bring into your life/team?
Can you see that future version of yourself and your work? After all, work is just the effort we put in to producing something - music, art, a garden, children, a business, a product, etc. Every single person on this planet, every single one of us, has a purpose and a plan seeded into the very core of our being by God. It’s what compels us forward through our life, it’s why we feel this need to produce something, to be productive. The question is can you see it?
As you start this new year, take a minute and let yourself dream and imagine the possibilities of what your “life’s coming attractions” could be and where you want to go.
“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.”
Here’s to an epic new year!
#TGIM
