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Do you have a clearly written vision that impacts your life and family?
What is vision?
Vision is a clear mental picture of a preferable future that God communicates to an individual. The individual becomes so committed to the vision that he will pursue it despite any obstacles or challenges. It is the ingredient that launches a man out of stagnation and into forward action.
Visions originate in the heart and mind of a man who is frustrated and tired of the way things are in contrast to the way he believes things could and should be.
It was the vision of equal rights for all people that inspired Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to crusade for civil rights. It was the vision to have a computer on every desk and in every home that drove Bill Gates. It was the vision of greater discovery that motivated George Washington Carver to discover over 300 different uses for the peanut. Vision demands change.
What is possibly more satisfying than knowing that God designed you with a unique vision to impact the world? Your vision is not a one-size-fits-all, but it is uniquely fashioned to fit you. No matter who you are, what country or continent you live on or what side of the tracks you are from, you have a specific vision that no one in this world can live but you.
I do not care who tries to imitate your vision; they will never live it as effectively as you. Even if he follows it step-by-step and word-for-word, he will never execute it the way you can. The tragedy is to live your entire life without ever living to the full potential of your unique vision.
The dilemma
One of the major dilemmas in today’s contemporary, fast-paced, over-communicated society is the number of people living without ever realizing their unique vision. Knowledge and communication are just one click away. Instant gratification is an obsession. Patience is a lost virtue. If we cannot have what we want when we want it, we oftentimes find ourselves disappointed, distressed and discouraged.
Many people are busy moving at fast-break speeds hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly, but they still have no real vision beyond their current situations. They spend countless hours talking and texting on mobile devices, watching their favorite reality shows or emailing, tweeting and checking their Facebook pages, but many men fail to spend the same quality time developing and pursuing their life’s vision.
Thus, they live void of the unique vision that can catapult them to extraordinary living. A lack of vision causes many men to miss the great and settle for what they think is good.
Our world is in desperate need of men who possess a clear vision: a vision that belongs to him personally, and not a vision dictated by contemporary society, social media or someone else’s image.
Regardless of where you are in life, (your age, financial status, educational level or family background) your unique vision positions you to impact your home, community, city, state, nation and ultimately the world! The desire to impact those connected to your vision empowers you to move past the failures of yesterday, the excuses of today and the fears of tomorrow.
10 Insights
Below are 10 insights that will help you live out your life’s vision
- Avoid negative conversations. Do not allow people to make more withdrawals than deposits in your life. If you do, you will find yourself living in the negative. It does not take long for negative conversations from discouraged people to deplete your life’s progress. You do not have control over what others say; but you do have control over whether or not you allow them to speak in your life. You have the power to walk away and reject their poisonous words from infiltrating your heart and mind.
- Forgiveness frees you. Don’t live your life frustrated and angry about what others did or did not do. Forgive. Life is too short to live with unforgiveness. I know it can be difficult to forgive someone that done you wrong, but the consequences of not forgiving weighs your life down. You miss living at your best. You forfeit peace of mind. Free yourself by taking the initiative to forgive. Because you forgive, does not mean you have to trust or have a relationship with that person. Don’t waste another second, seek forgiveness and move forward.
- You are not a carbon copy. You were created to be unique. You were not designed to be a carbon copy of anyone. You may resemble your father or mother, but you are not them. You may have gifts and abilities similar to someone else, but you are still different. Don’t fall into the world’s trap that wants to make you like everyone else, find the courage to be yourself. Uniqueness is priceless. It’s God’s gift to you. Being YOU is worth the effort!
- Embrace change and move forward. Change is often difficult. It can disrupt your life. It can interfere with your routine. The hardest part about change is letting go of what you were use to and moving on with something different. No matter how much you want things to stay the same, they will not. Change is inevitable. Stop worrying, fretting and doubting, and believe that things will work out. Embrace the change, live expectantly and enjoy your life as you move forward.
- Don’t let the fear of failure win. Don’t let past failures hold you hostage. Don’t let thoughts of failure keep you from trying. One of the major problems that keep people from living their vision is the fear of failure. Every person experiences failure at some time. Realize that failure is not final and is a part of the success process. The key is to learn from your failures, get back up, dust yourself off and keep trying. You are not finished when you fail, only when you quit.
- Are you where you desire to be in life? To get where you desire to be is going to take effort. You are going to have to roll up your sleeves, put on your workbooks, strap on your hardhat and go to work. Talking about your desires won’t bring them to pass. Dreaming about your future won’t open doors to success. Reading books about others success won’t magically transfer to you. You must conclude that you are tired of where you are, choose to change your mindset, create a plan of action and consistently take action.
- You must seize your moments. There are moments in life when you have to overcome fear and just exercise your faith. You have to come to the point when you say, “I am tired of living a life less than what is destined for me.” You have to say with confidence, “Though I don’t see how, where or when my vision will manifest itself, I am determined to pursue after it with tenacious faith.” When your moment comes, you can’t wait for other’s approval. You can’t wait to see who is going to go with you. You can’t wait for things in your life to be perfect. You must seize your moment at the time it comes because you may never get that opportunity again.
- The world is waiting. You do not know what you can do until you do it. I am not promising that you’ll be a millionaire, everyone will love you or that everything will happen the way you want. When you realize your purpose, your life will never be the same. Colors will become brighter, words will become more powerful, time will not be wasted, your energy will rise and your vision will become clearer. Start living your vision today because the world is waiting.
- Break free from your comfort zone. The desire to remain in your comfort zone is natural and because of that instinctive need, we jump on the someday bandwagon and push our goals and dreams to the side until another day. Unfortunately nothing ever happens. Tomorrow becomes next week, which soon leads to next year. Then next year leads to five years, then ten years. Until eventually, the life you desired to live becomes a distant memory. You can’t afford to fall into the trap of “someday” because it may never come.
- Grow your life every day. Every day you should do something that makes you better than you were yesterday. The only way to reach success for your life is you must make a commitment to continually improve each day. Never think that you have arrived. You can always improve. You can always learn something new. You can always grow. You will find that what you get as you continue to improve daily is not as important as who you become along the way.
“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” Benjamin Franklin
Question: What can you do to position yourself to live out your life’s vision? Leave a comment.
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