Vision Matters
Posted: April 20, 2016
I was listening to Dave Ramsey last week and happened to catch him talking about the importance of “seeing” your goals. He quoted Earl Nightingale who said, “What you can conceive and believe, you can achieve.”
I’ve heard that before in several different forms, but never knew who originally said it. The version I was most familiar with came from my own martial arts instructor, Chief Master Phil Minton, who always said, “If you can see it, you can be it.”
It took me awhile, but through the years, I’ve come to understand how important this idea really is. It’s the over-arching idea and under-lying reason behind everything you do. At what drives us toward a goal.
Without a vision, we’re pretty much directionless. It’s kind of like a ship without a rudder. It might be underway, but it’s nearly impossible to steer. It’s subject to the currents around it, and can’t break out toward its own destination. It gets carried away.
We’re the same way. We need a vision. It might be a new goal, or it might be an old one yet to be realized. It might even be something you don’t fully understand yet. But without that vision, we’re directionless too.
It’s hard to become something if you don’t “see it” first. You’ve got to have a vision of it in your mind’s eye. It isn’t the only thing, but it’s the first thing. Pick any successful person, do some background, and you likely see this 7-Step Process at work:
1. They had a Vision of something (Hopes, dreams, desire, purpose).
2. They set goals according to their Vision.
3. They came up with a plan that led them to their Vision.
4. They worked hard because they believed in their Vision.
6. They overcame problems along the way because their Vision was too important to accept something less.
7. They had a break-through moment when their Vision became a reality.
See how everything is driven by your vision? Truly, “If you can see it, you can be it.” Because “What you can conceive and believe, you can achieve.” What’s your vision?