"Everything flows, nothing stands still."
One cannot step into the same river twice; one cannot know any one thing in the world for what it truly is - it is constantly changing. (Paraphrased)
- Heraclites1
Most people think that they are being asked to change more often than they would like.
This discomfort with change manifests as anxiety, ambiguity, frustration, and fear.
There is a saying, "The only thing that is constant is that things change."
Nothing stays the same for long. Change is inevitable and can cause uncertainty.
To prosper amid uncertainty, you need ways to respond to change that is happening
around you. A vision harnesses the forces of change. Vision is a way to counter this
discomfort and to make change exciting, fulfilling, and an opportunity for growth
and success.
In any moment, you can be somewhere on a continuum that ranges from resisting to
embracing change. If you decide to resist change completely, you may be able to keep
it at bay for a while. However, in the fast-changing world that we live in, resisting
change can become stressful and undesirable.
When you have a vision, you gain awareness and insight about what you think is
important to you. Your vision is a tool to recognize productive choices about the
opportunities that are presented by change. You can then embrace change as a
positive force in your life.2, 3
Visioning is important to personal transformation. Transformation means "to change."
Vision lies at the beginning of the transformation process. By creating a vision,
you give birth to new images of your future. Once you decide how you want things to
be in the future and create your vision, you give yourself permission to use your
energy, time, and resources to support your transformation.
However, even though you consciously choose to embrace and move in the direction
of change, you may continue to do things as you have always done them. This is
normal. Human beings are creatures of habit and prefer to do what is familiar,
even though it may not give us satisfaction. This creates a dilemma. You don't
want to remain dissatisfied, but if you keep doing what you've always done because
it is familiar, you will keep getting what you always got: dissatisfaction.
Creating a vision of what you really want to happen will break this cycle.
Change is a necessary ingredient for vision to work. When you have a vision, you
use the changing environment around you as a positive force in your life. Instead of
being frustrated by change or seeing it as an obstacle, change becomes a partner,
providing the fuel (opportunities) for your dream. In a changing environment, new
opportunities that can advance you to your desired future continually present
themselves. Your vision helps you identify them.
Vision Tip: When things are not how you want, stop what you are thinking,
feeling, and doing. Focus your thoughts, feelings, and actions on what you most
want to happen next. Repeat the thought or feeling over and over again to drown out
what you don't want. Become aware of new opportunities that can move you toward
how you want things to be. Take action when you think or feel something may move
you toward what you desire.
"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
- Henry David Thoreau4
One of the easiest ways for us to change our lives is to become more aware of our
thoughts5. Many theories of psychology hold that what defines reality is
our perception of it, our interpretation of it, and the meaning we give to it.
6,7,8,9 In other words, reality is subjective and is influenced by
our interactions with it.10 Therefore, if we can control our reactions
and interpretations, we can exert significant control over our reality.
William James, a prominent figure in psychology in the early 1900s, said,
"The greatest revolution in our generation is that human beings, by changing the
inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives."
Vision is a tool that focuses our conscious and unconscious thoughts toward a
future reality that is in sync with our beliefs and desires.11,12,13
Alfred Whitehead, an early 1900s philosopher-mathematician, described reality as
"a flux whose context is the mind, rather than something tangible - out there."
Everything that is human-made was once a thought in someone's mind.14
Reality is a subjective experience and is significantly influenced by the
interactions people have with it. The future is not fixed; it is a fluid,
ever-changing phenomenon.15,16
What we create in our minds has a high probability of manifesting in the real
world. This does not mean that we necessarily create reality; rather, "we
evoke potential that already exists."17 Because our thoughts and
vision affect physical outcomes, we must identify our priorities and direct our
thoughts toward them. A vision acts as a lens through which to find guidance about
whether an opportunity is in line with our purpose and desired future.
Notes
1. Heraclites, pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, 500 B.C. From Wikipedia.org.
The site is owned by the Wikimedia Foundation. There are thousands of editors,
both expert and non-expert, who make contributions to the database. The
information on topics is arrived at through consensus. Protocols watch for
bad edits, and administrators have the power to withdraw or restrict editing
privileges. Wikipedia is not considered a scholarly source, but it provides a
good starting point for research.
2. G. Latham, "Visioning: The Concept, Trilogy, and Process," Quality Progress,
1995; April: 65-68.
3. B. Nanus, "Leading the Vision Team," The Futurist, May-June 1996: 21-23.
4. Henry David Thoreau, Walden (Stilwell, KS: Digireads.com Publishing, 2005).
5. M. Ferguson, Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformations
in the 1980s (Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher, 1980), 69.
6. A. Adler, Superiority and Social Interest (Chicago: Northwestern University Press, 1970).
7. A. Bandura, Social Learning Theory (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1977).
8. V. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning (Boston: Beacon Press, 1978).
9. A. Thio, Sociology: An Introduction, 3rd ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1992).
10. M. Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science. Discovering Order in a Chaotic World, 2nd ed. (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 1999).
11. W. Finnie, "A Four-Cycle Approach to Strategy Development and Implementation," Strategy and Leadership Journal, 1997; 24-29.
12. B. Nanus, Visionary Leadership (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publications, 1992).
13. P. Senge, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (New York: Doubleday Dell, 1990).
14. A. Whitehead, Adventures of Ideas (New York: Mentor Books, 1933).
15. Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science.
16. Senge, The Fifth Discipline.
17. Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science.
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