VISION (Part 2): Developing Personal Vision

Helen Keller, the deaf blind American author and activist was once asked what her greatest fear was; she replied "to have sight but no vision."
Vision is the ability to see the invisible and take steps to make it possible. "Vision is sight beyond sight (Myles Munroe)."

I want to talk to you about personal vision and please feel free to chip in with any comments or contributions you may have.
Personal vision is something any person and leader should have. This is because vision allows you to do certain things and brings order to your life. If you know where you want to be 5, 10 or 15yrs from now and have a plan; its unlikely that you will let people and circumstances limit you.
So we notice a few things about vision right from the start.

1. Vision brings direction and order to your life
2. Vision breeds hope and determination

I will get more into this stuff at a later stage but for now I want to give you a few pointers in developing personal vision. Personal vision is so important that if you choose to ignore it then you would have settled for an average mediocre life and I know that this is not you.

For starters its important for us to know that personal vision begins with a discovery of your unique gifting or purpose. Every person is a designer's original and your gifts and talents are unique to you. They may look like those of your friend or neighbor but no one can operate in them the way you can.
So, I want you you to take stock of your gifts right now. Get a paper and jot them down. Don't hold back. If you feel you have the gift to fly, write it down. If you feel you have the gift to encourage and motivate people, don't leave that off you list.
I want you to take notice of the greatness that's in you.
So often we spend alot of time wishing we could do what our friends can do that we completely ignore our own uniqueness and short-change ourselves. The gifts you have have been put there by God so that you serve the world.Its time to take notice of yourself!

Do you have your gift inventory list in hand? Good! We can now put that into a concise statement. Now the statement I want you to write is important and it will help encourage you when you really need some motivation. I call it your "Personal Purpose Statement." It's a statement that is a recognition of your own uniqueness and you need to hear it. I suggest that you make it as concise as possible so that you can memorize it and recall it from memory when you really need it. It can be something like this: My name is Campbell and I believe that I was created to .....(Your gifts here). Now its going to take some time for you to narrow it down but just do it. You will never regret it.

Now that you know your gifts its time to develop your personal vision. Let me share a method that I've used in my own life and I learnt from Mr. Todd Duncan. Life is multi faceted and therefore calls for a multi faceted vision. What I want you to do is go back to your paper and this time I want you to write the areas that are important to you; the areas you value most. For example you can say; family, marriage, finances,education,my dream or contribution to the world and so on.

After you've done this I want you to write what the Picture of this part of your life looks like in 5, 10, 20 yrs from now. This picture is your Vision for this particular area of your life. So let's say in the area of finances you want to be a millionaire-jot that down. Don't limit yourself; you're creating the future you prefer.
Do this exercise for every area you value most; describe the future.
Now ask yourself; how do my gifts fit into this vision?

Now that you've imagined your future- lets go ahead and create it. The third step is to set realistic goals for the attainment of your vision for each area of your life. Don't forget to set a time frame for your goal. Often people say they want to be rich and successful but they never put a plan and strategy in place to ensure their success. To fail to plan is to plan to fail.
Your goal should include a plan and strategy. This is where the work begins-this is where the rubber meets the road.

Fourthly and most importantly, get started on your vision and start NOW!Too often people air their intentions to be rich but it's always in the future tense. They never get started on their dream. A dream remains a dream if its not followed by planned and strategic action. Go ahead and take some risks and achieve your vision.

People that have a clear personal vision usually make great leaders.Show me a person without vision and I will show you a weak, irresponsible, disorganized,clueless leader.Vision is the mark of greatness and if you want to be a great leader the first follower you have is yourself. You are your first project and you better make it a success. If you cannot manage yourself, direct yourself and act on your goals with determination; how can you assume leadership of many people.
The journey to leadership begins here and it begins with you.
Develop a personal vision.