Have you written your Vision 2020? In this week’s #Illuminare, I share 5 points about vision – I call them 5 clauses of vision.
Point No.1: You are your vision. Let me share a story…
I have just returned from vacation in Dubai and every time I visit that country I am happy but sad at the same time. They have autonomous trains, air-conditioned bus stops, an incredible irrigation system – in a country without rain, towering skyscrapers, design thinking, well-constructed roads, constant electricity, impressive shopping malls, daring ambition, an incredible airport, an efficient port complex, the world’s most successful airline, the world’s tallest building. Dubai is a country of superlatives. It is the product of vision.
The Dubais of this world don’t happen without vision. They don’t happen by accident. I wanted to decode the DNA of the excellence I saw in the country and so I bought a book titled MY STORY by the ruler of Dubai, His Highness, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. As I read the book I found something intriguing. There is a match between the personality of the Sheikh and the character of Dubai! That’s because vision mirrors the incubator of the vision. Dubai has energy because the Sheikh has incredible drive. Dubai has attained the impossible because the Sheikh does not believe in impossibility. Dubai is punching above its weight because the Sheikh believes Emiratis are no less than Europeans and Americans.
Your vision can never be independent of you. This is why it’s so difficult to get someone else to successfully drive a new business. You can’t separate vision from the incubator of the vision. Which means you have two jobs – you have to work on your vision and you have to work on yourself. Some people think vision is writing some futuristic words on a piece of paper but that’s not vision. Anyone can do that. If you lack the qualities to fulfil the vision you don’t have a vision.
Point No. 2: Work on manifesting your vision.
Everyone says Dubai has vision, but at what point did we begin to say so? Was it when the ruler wrote out the vision on a piece of paper fifty years ago or is it now, fifty years after? The reality of life is that no one says you have vision until you attain your vision. You cannot separate vision from its attainment. If you don’t attain your vision the world will not call you visionary. To the world therefore vision is after the fact. Until you attain that vision all you have written down is just a statement of ambition. You will hardly hear the world say someone has vision without proof of that vision.
The reason we say Dubai has vision is because we see Emirates Airline, we see the skyscrapers, we see the huge shopping malls… It’s not vision to the world until it manifests. Therefore WORK ON YOUR MANIFESTATION. If you have a lofty ambition but don’t itemise how you’re going to achieve that vision and follow through you don’t have a vision. It’s just wishful thinking.
Point No.3: Vision requires faith.
Faith is the ability to see the unseen. The reason you get discouragements when you share your vision is because the world can’t see what you see. To the world seeing is believing, but to the visioneer believing is seeing. If you don’t believe it you won’t see it. Faith deals with impossibilities. A vision is an impossibility that came to pass. Faith is classically defined as the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV). The substance of your vision is you. We can’t see it. We can only see the vision through you. You’re the primary medium. It is for this reason investors invest in people not projects.
You’re the substance of your vision. If you move, the vision moves. If you stagnate, the vision stagnates. If you give up the vision dies. You’ve got to have faith in your vision. If you don’t why should we?
Point No. 4: You must develop reasoning capacity to fulfil your vision.
Often times what separates small achievement from big achievement is reasoning capacity. Corporations know this so they hire very intelligent people. And even that is not enough. They buy wisdom just as Solomon says by hiring consultants. The average bank has at least 20 sets of consultants. But you’re not a bank. You can’t afford those consultants, so what do you do? It’s simple, you develop your reasoning capacity through assimilation and consumption of knowledge and information. You sharpen your reasoning capacity, you imbibe culture, you gobble up visual cues, you attend courses and seminars, read business magazines, read philosophical thoughts… You study, you observe, you think through. Motivational books are not enough. After you’ve been motivated then what?
The reason the Battery Charger, the Rewire or Vulcaniser is unable to expand his business is because he lacks the intellectual capacity to do so. You’ve got to develop your reasoning capacity. Do you have the intellectual capacity to bring your vision to pass?
Point No. 5: Vision requires endurance.
There will be shame, there will be pain. People will laugh at you. Things will be difficult. You will struggle. But you don’t give up. You maintain focus. We learnt this from Jesus. The Bible says Jesus never lost sight of where he was headed and because of that he could put up with anything along the way – the cross, the shame and every other thing. (Hebrews 12:2 MSG). You must despise the shame like Jesus.
In summary,
- You are your vision: develop yourself
- The world will not credit you with vision without proof
- Have faith in yourself and your vision
- Break down your vision into steps for attainment
- You need to develop your reasoning capacity
- You must be ready to endure if you want to realise your vision
If you’ll like to receive Jesus into your life please pray this prayer: “Father I acknowledge that I am a sinner, that Jesus died for me, that you raised him from the dead. Father please forgive me. I accept Jesus today as my Lord and my Saviour. Amen.”
© Leke Alder | talk2me@lekealder.com.
Dubai is a country of superlatives. It is the product of vision. Click To Tweet The Dubais of this world don’t happen without vision. They don’t happen by accident. Click To Tweet To the world seeing is believing, but to the visioneer believing is seeing. Click To Tweet You’re the substance of your vision. If you move, the vision moves. If you stagnate, the vision stagnates. If you give up the vision dies. Click To Tweet You’ve got to have faith in your vision. If you don’t why should we? Click To Tweet