The concept of vision is highly misunderstood by many. Vision is just more than dream. It is not just trance. Vision is a knowing. Vision can be a compelling desire that impresses something to you strongly and may not leave you for a long time. A vision can be a thought that persists in your subconscious such that it begins to inspire and push you towards a certain goal. Someone may lay claims to any or all of these, and they may either be right or wrong about their vision.
In this post, the focus is on a vision either of life, business, or relationship, which compels the visionary to the point that they have certainty of focus fuelled by an undying passion. This vision is neither earned through dream nor trance. Though it may initially come by either of these, it must so convince the visionary so much beyond what the visionary can do about it because it now lives in them, till they have to birth or manifest it, however obscure, audacious or unaccepted it is to others.
With the mental faculties of imagination, perception, and intuition, we can attract and develop a mindset or attitude that is in tandem with a vision, such that we can begin to reason in a certain way and exercise the will, which is the can-do-attitude to do it. It affects us equally till we commit it to memory. That is how the vision becomes one with our psyche. It becomes a way of life for us.
When a vision is true, actions would testify of it. The visionary would patiently but steadily pursue its actualisation. Oftentimes or sometimes, things do not go as planned. Project execution hits a brick wall, and plans do go awry, contrary to expectation, for any reasons whatsoever. But a visionary with a true vision waits and persists in endurance.
First, they find out what the issues are. They engage appropriate design thinking models for problem solving to find solution to the issue. Truth is that a visionary with a true vision factors problems that may be encountered in the way and makes provisions for solutions as they unfold. This is the open and solutions fluent mindset that accepts challenges and is always poised to engage reasonably to achieve growth because the vision is compelling.
A true vision makes sacrifice. The visionary sacrifices and invests every resource at his disposal into it, including priceless and invaluable time. The visionary puts in time into ensuring that things don’t go wrong, and when they do, they are always on hand to correct the problem. That wise poet said that his soul waits for God more than they that watch for the morning. The reason this is possible is due to the influence of his revelation or faith in his Maker.
A true vision makes the visionary do unusual things: William Gates III left Harvard to follow his passion or vision. The outcome is Microsoft. Elon Musk made 180 million dollars and he invested all of it in his conviction, borrowing money to pay rent. Today his net worth is 34 billion dollars. Moses left a thriving Animal Husbandry business of Jethro, his father-in-law, to follow the calling of being a Human Husbandry. A compelling vision made Abraham leave certainty for uncertainty, going to a place he did not know for a surety.
Do you know that a rice farmer who sows his field is in expectation of harvest? He knows by understanding and experience what the problems that can militate against bumper are. For example, he knows that just before harvest, the Red-billed Quelea attack the mature crop and threaten the harvest. The farmer erects scarecrows all around the farm and he knows the period of the day when the birds invade, he invests that time and waits around to either physically scare them off or with gunshots.
Someone with a true vision labours hard to see that the vision becomes a reality. That visionary is sold out to intense and continuous labour because he knows that there is a season and window of opportunity. And once this window closes without the right action, it is a loss. Because of that he makes sure that every other thing is kept waiting till that season is over. Nothing else can cause a distraction because the vision is true and so focus is not in want.
A visionary with a true vision patiently endures the pains of the moment. They study, they seek and even attract information, which becomes the intelligence they require to actualise a part or whole of the vision. The visionary is able to both separate self and use collaboration, when the time comes. Warren Buffet has employees who work with him at his Berkshire Hathaway organisation, but he also leaves a day or two open for himself weekly. According to him, on those free days, he is alone studying, thinking and reflecting. Suffice to say that those moments provide clearer insights to sharpen his vision. Huge value is earned in separation.
A true vision drives conviction into the visionary. It pumps the visionary with ideas. They would be relentless as they just live and act the vision. By the actions of the visionary which is fuelled by an uncanny focus, there is continuous inspiration and passion to keep going. The aura of such a visionary is infectious. The vibration is constantly on the rise. The visionary’s actions tell that there is a potential treasure to be unearthed. These things cannot be hidden.
Close associates of the visionary know his or her faith in the idea. They talk it. They drink it. They eat it. They communicate it non-stop. They live it. The visionary carries a message. They become one with the message, the vision.
When a vision is true, the visionary seeks a certain promise. In life, everything we do starts with or is driven by a force of vision, whether we know it or not. But it is important that we know. That is when it is intentional. And that is when we are deliberate because it is good to know but great to do that which we know. That is where the fortune of a vision fuelled with passion lies.
According to Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, “an enlightened leader is capable of developing a vision and using his imagination to perfect it. All the successive leaders of Dubai enjoyed a clear and common vision of the emirate’s future. My father’s farsightedness was, however, ahead of his time. Many officials in his entourage failed to understand his desire to implement all the mega projects he is now credited with and many also found it difficult to understand his ambitions.”
This position presented by Rashid Al Maktoum about the failure of many of his father’s entourage to understand his father’s desires communicates an earlier thought I had shared about vision being beyond pictures, and that it is a knowing that is settled within and the visionary often may not be able to explain it fully to someone. People just either follow because they have no choice, or they follow because they believe in the leader. The latter is more like it.
There is no greatness without a great vision that often seemed impossible even to the visionary sometimes. How do you think it sounded in Abraham’s ears that his seed shall be as the sand of the sea and as the stars in the sky, when he had no child and his wife was past menopause and had ceased engaging in the pleasure of sex?
A true vision knows. A true vision applies. A true vision is sure. A true vision attracts. A true vision works. A true vision manifests. A true vision believes. A true vision activates action. With a true vision, we can passionately seek and work change. A true vision gets you to move from where you are to someplace else. It causes a shift. It manifests change.
Do you have a vision? Do you think it’s a true vision? What is it? Are you willing to put everything into it and pursue it? Be sure that whatever you do not truly envision, you cannot manifest because focus and passion would be missing from the equation.
