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Become a master at overcoming the moments self-doubt or fear that you will experience on the journey to fulfilling your personal vision.
One of my absolute favorite subjects to write or coach on is the power of having a vision - whether that be a vision for your life, your family, for the person you want to become, for your career or what you want to accomplish. I am passionate about this for several reasons:
1. Having a vision is so fundamental to personal and professional leadership. You want to be a successful parent? Have a strong vision for your family. Want to be a great employee? Have a great vision for your career but also a great vision for adding value to your company. Want to be a great leader? Learn to cast great visions and empower others to help the team get there. Want to be a successful entrepreneur or small business owner, it starts with being a great a visionary.
2. Having a vision gives you an edge. If you want to be a person of significance, if you want to be exceptional, if you want to stand out, it starts with having a personal vision. Having a vision gives you purpose & direction, which motivates you, which gives you a positive and resilient energy that other people can see or sense.
3. Having a vision is a necessary component of being successful. No one just falls into success. The greatest difference between those that are successful and those that aren’t is the way they think. John Maxwell says "that's the secret of all successful people—they think differently. They understand that as they think, so they are, and they make it a point to think successfully." Successful thinking starts with learning how to be a visionary.
If you are thinking to yourself "What if I don't have a vision?", stay with me. You may be tying the idea of a vision exclusively to just one aspect of your life - like your career. But in all likelihood, you probably already have a vision or at least a seedling of a vision for some aspect of your life - personally or professionally - but have never taken the time to acknowledge and define it. Which is a super important step.
In a recent blog post titled "What Do You Want to be When You Grow Up?", I layout 6 things everyone needs to understand about having a vision and simple steps you can take today to start to define yours. If you do not have a defined vision for yourself, your career, your family, your relationship or your finances - check out that blog post today!
The 8 Voices of Vision
In the post mentioned above, I introduce John Maxwell’s idea of the 4 voices of vision that successful leaders learn to listen and respond to:
Inner Voice
The pull. The voice saying you are better than this. You were born to do something great. Yes, you can. You can do this. You can be successful.
Unhappy Voice
The voice of discontent. The voice that tells you that you aren't happy with where things are, that says things could be better or they should be better, there is something I could do to make it better.
Successful Voice
The voice of successful people who inspire others by giving a vision that has credibility. All of the sudden you hear them and think "yes, I can do that. I want to become like that." Someone who has already made it to the top and encouraging and helping others do the same.
Higher Voice
The God voice. The voice of the one who believes in you more than you believe in yourself. That knows what you’re capable of, that knows what you were born to do. That knows your purpose in life.
As I was reflecting on this and taking some time to listen to my own voices of vision, the list started to feel incomplete. Because just like every action has an equal opposite reaction, each of these four voices of vision has an equal opposite that speak to us and pull us arguably stronger and more frequently than their positive counter part. So I am going to add onto John's teachings to propose that there are actually 8 voices of vision that we must learn how to recognize and respond to in order to be be successful visionaries.
The 4 voices of vision John speaks about - the inner, unhappy, successful and higher voices - are all voices that inspire, spark, create or enhance vision in a positive direction. The opposites are voices that can obstruct, crush, discourage, or dissuade vision in a negative direction.
Outer Voice
The opposite of the inner voice. The voice saying you aren’t enough, you can’t do this. You will never be better than what you are now. The voice that tells you other people or things are to blame for your circumstances. If the inner voice comes from your heart, then the outer voice is all in your head driven by external circumstances or factors manipulating and influencing how you think.
Complacent Voice
The opposite of the unhappy voice. The voice of complacency, smugness, of being uncritically satisfied with your current situation and unconcerned about changing it. The voice that tells you things are really great right now, you have a good thing going. Why would you want to risk losing comfort and safety for the chance of looking like a failure?
Unsuccessful Voice
The opposite of the successful voice. The voice of unsuccessful people that either tried and didn’t make it, or who never tried and keep others from trying what they never could. People who don’t believe in you or who constantly tell you all the reasons you won’t make it to the top, many times under the guise of logic and reason.
Evil Voice
The opposite of the Higher voice. The voice of darkness. The voice of demise and doom. The voice that will do anything in it’s power to keep you from fulfilling your purpose. The voice that manipulates the other negative voices to maintain it’s control over you.
Chinese general, military strategist and philosopher Sun Tzu said “if you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.”
The toughest battles you will face won't be ones that are brought on by other people or challenges at work. Many times our greatest enemy, our greatest battles to overcome are brought on by ourselves! We get in our own way, we stop believing in ourselves, we don't take risks, we blame our circumstances, we victimize ourselves, we experience paralyzation through over-analyzation.
Everyone of us has all 8 voices present in our consciousness. No one is exempt. For as important as it is to listen and respond to the positive voices, it is equally if not more important to learn how to recognize and control the volume of their opposites. This is critical to overcoming the moments or seasons of self-doubt, disbelief or fear that you will experience on the journey to fulfilling your personal vision. People who find personal success have learned to manage these voices successfully. You can too.
CONTROL THE VOLUME
We may not have control over whether or not the negative voices of vision are present in our thoughts, but we do have control over how much or how little they influence our decisions. Here are some practical tips cranking up the positive and turning down the negative:
Stop and allow yourself the opportunity to truly listen to and reflect on the positive voices of vision.
What Do You Want to be When You Grow Up walks you through this step with a bonus resource you can download to help document your thoughts. Give yourself uninterrupted time to do this not just from the natural distractions of your day, but also from the negative voices too. Even if it’s for 5 minutes, force those negative thoughts away so you can listen to what the positive voices may be leading you towards.
Write it down.
A Harvard study revealed that people who wrote down their goals were 30 times more successful than people with no goals, and 20 times more successful than people with goals in their heads. Massive successes such as Harry Potter, Whataburger, Shark Week, Southwest Airlines and many others all started out as an idea on a cocktail napkin.
Track your progress.
Keep a short list of accomplishments - big and small - that you can recite to yourself in under 30 seconds. That way when those negative voices start to creep in you can quickly control the volume by giving yourself a needed confidence boost.
Manage your environment.
You have control over who you spend your time with and what you watch, read, listen to and scroll through. Surround yourself with people who encourage or inspire the positive voices of vision. Separate yourself from people who bring you down or who drain you of your positivity. Control what you consume by asking yourself if what you watch, read, listen to or scroll through is growing you or slowing you. Scale back mindless garbage that doesn't contribute anything to your personal growth and replace it with something that does.
Capitalize on the successful voice.
Whatever your vision may be, study and follow those that have already accomplished what you are setting out to do. Immerse yourself with success stories and examples of overcoming adversity. Bookmark, flag or save them so you can quickly go back and revisit when you need a pick-me-up.
Learn your triggers.
In what moments do you feel the most inspired, motivated or encouraged? In what moments do you feel overwhelmed, discouraged or defeated? Be intentional about creating positive trigger moments on a regular basis, and learn to anticipate your negative triggers so you can work through them faster and get back to a positive mindset.
Seek mentorship.
Yoko Ono famously said “A dream you dream alone is just a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.” Share your vision with someone you that can mentor you. Just saying it out loud is such a powerful step, it becomes instantly real. A great mentor can help provide insights, advice, and accountability to help you get you started in the right direction. A great mentor can also help you overcome the negative voices hindering getting in your way.
Dream big, but start small.
Eat the elephant one bite at a time. Don’t overwhelm yourself by thinking of all of the things you would need to change, learn or accomplish to achieve your vision. Don’t immediately think of all of the obstacles or set backs you will face. Start small by writing down one task you will do this week that will help get you started in the right direction. And next week do the same. And the same after that. You will eventually gain more momentum as you gain more confidence.
Have a personal mantra.
Never underestimate the power of a great quote. Find at least one that helps jumpstart or reset you back into a positive mindset. Some of my personal favorites are:
“Jump and build your wings on the way down” - When I have moments of doubt or uncertainty I quickly remind myself that I am building my wings. This is part of the process.
"Enjoy Your Season" - This reminds me that my most important role in life is being a Mom, and right now a pre-school Mom. I may not be able to make as much progress towards my career vision right now, and that's ok because my vision for my family is far more important and these are super critical years.
“Eat the elephant one bite at a time.” - When I get overwhelmed, I remember this little nugget an old boss used to say all the time. Break it down, take it slow, and focus on one thing at a time.
If you are feeling dissatisfied or discouraged with your life, circumstances, relationships or career - there is hope.
If your life is going great but you still feel a pull towards something more and you can't quite put your finger on what that is - there is hope.
If you have a rock solid vision for your life or career, but you keep getting knocked down by the negative voices of vision - there is hope.
There is hope because listening and responding to the voices of vision is a learned skill. And while you can’t stop the negative voices entirely, you can certainly take control of how much they influence you. Taking control is a choice.
And it's completely up to you how far you will go.
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