SUMMARY
- “Vision without action is a dream, action without vision is a nightmare.”
- The importance of having a vision for what we want then going for it. We can avoid nightmarish situations, waste less time, and reach our goals much faster.
- When you take the leap of faith, have the courage and enough confidence to approach someone in a manner where it’s collaborative, and you really want a good outcome for projects you’re working on then it becomes something that you’re able to influence.
- At the end of the day, if you don’t have a clear vision for where you’re going then you’re going to bumble around and kill a lot of time. The best way to avoid that is to have clarity and to sometimes take charge, if need be, and put yourself in that leadership role.
- Watch the video to get the full training.
INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES
TRANSCRIPT
[The following is a transcript of the video. Please note that it is unscripted and shot in one take.]
Hey friends, I recently read an old proverb that goes something like “vision without action is a dream, action without vision is a nightmare”.
So, I’m sure you can relate to situations where perhaps you’ve wanted to take action on something and you’re taking the action, you’re doing all kinds of things but you really don’t have a vision for what the outcome is. You really don’t have clarity on where it is that you want to go with it…so it becomes a bit of a nightmare because you just are going from one thing to the next aimlessly. And, that in and of itself, creates a very nightmarish situation.
Whereas, imagine a situation or a scenario where perhaps you have a vision. You’re taking the necessary actions to get there and you have a road map of sorts…a sort of syllabus where you know what’s going to happen, with a timeline, a deadline for delivery. Then you have such clarity and you don’t have to worry about what’s next. You could really use that bandwidth from trying to kind of bumble around things to actually going ahead and implementing things, from a project management perspective, if you will.
So there’s a real difference in feeling — where you feel contracted, where you are in that situation where you’re just bumbling around trying to get things done. But, you really don’t have a vision for what the grand scheme of things is and what you’re supposed to deliver at the end of the day. This, versus where you are clear on where you’re going and you sort of have a marching order that you can place for yourself or maybe somebody gives it to you.
But, this is just one scenario; it could also apply at work. You know, so you have a manager that is basically saying “hey we need to get this done but he doesn’t really give you a clear guideline of what needs to get done by when, in what sequence. You’re kind of feeling your way through and at any given time somebody can drop another bomb and say “oh we need this now, no we need this later”.
So, how do you avoid these kinds of situations? How do you proactively guard your energy so you can utilize them toward actually doing the tasks that are necessary for you to do?
One of the most important things that I’ve learned is to when you feel that sensation of things becoming nightmarish, it becoming out of control, and you not having a clear idea of where you are headed, it’s a good time to pause then talk to whoever’s in charge — especially if you are not in a position of power or control, if you’re not at the helm of making sure things are happening in a particular sequence.
Just have a chat and say “hey I really need to figure out what needs to get done when, and in that way I can actually plan around that, and so I can use my energy, my mind, my mental space, and all of that stuff toward actually getting the things that need to get done done rather than spinning in circles.
And, that takes a lot of courage to approach somebody who might be let’s say above you. Egos might get hurt because you’re questioning perhaps how things are getting done. But, at the end of the day it really does put you in a position of influence.
When you actually take the leap of faith and have the courage and have enough confidence to approach someone in a manner where it’s collaborative and you really want a good outcome for whatever project you’re working on then it becomes something that you’re actually able to influence. You’re able to influence whoever’s in charge and also whomever is in your team.
It doesn’t always only have to be in a work environment. It could very well be in your relationships. It could be on any project that you’ve taken on.
At the end of the day, if you don’t have a clear vision for where you’re going then you’re going to bumble around and kill a lot of time. The best way to avoid that is to have clarity and to sometimes take charge, if need be, and put yourself in that leadership role.
And, these are attributes — in terms of having confidence, courage, being a leader, and our ability to influence — that are crucial skills that we need as we evolve in life. Especially, in light of everything that’s going on at the moment.
It really is important to assume the role of a leader. We really are needed to lead when everything is sort of in chaos and we’re not sure where to look. So, if you actually have the presence of mind and clarity then by all means do just that.
I’ll give you a little example to illustrate what I’m talking about. So, I’m taking a course for a couple of weeks and unfortunately the course is laid out in a way where you just go to class and they tell you what happens that day. But, you don’t know what’s next.
It went on like this for about a week before I finally couldn’t take it, where it became nightmarish. I got to class early one day and asked the teacher, again it’s in a foreign language so I was really trying and there were so many different barriers at play which made the situation even more miserable. But, I basically said “listen I just need to plan everything else that I also have to get done. Please give me an idea of what the timeline is”. I had a quick 10 minute chat with her, she laid it out for me — you need to do this then after that we’re going to do this and this and that and the other.
Now I can work backwards, from the deadline that I had actually set for myself. And, I shared it with a handful of my classmates…everybody thought brilliant, now we know what comes next.
A small example but really illustrates the importance of taking charge. It really is important to show up for yourself and show up your mission. And, you guard that by basically guarding your energy, by knowing where you are going to go, what you’re going to do, and what the trajectory is going to be.
It’s essentially about making sure that you show up confidently for yourself, making sure that you are showing up courageously for yourself, knowing that you have the power to influence, to ask questions.
You know, asking is free so you can ask whatever question you want you without being afraid of any kind of consequences as long as it’s in the interest of the project, the relationship, or whatever the case might be.
Well, friends I hope that serves you. If you found this video useful, do share it with others who you think might be inspired by it. And, if you have any comments do leave some comments below.
Erina Haile 