In the mist of everything that needs to get done, I’ve been finding myself in a time of deep reflection. It has been a few months since I’ve really stopped to think, reflect, meditate and make sense of all that has happened, what is happening and what the future holds. This type of reflecting extends pass the ToDo lists and necessary steps that are part of the start-up process.
This type of reflecting requires time to stop and observe. It requires a lot of quiet time, journaling, catching up on reading and peeking into where the world is and what it’s doing. It’s about plugging in to the vision, the passion and the purpose of our actions.
I haven’t talked much about this in the blog except for a few posts at the beginning, back in May and June…but, the fact is, I am a very spiritual person, and I trust and believe that; what we do in life, what we are passionate about and what we are gifted with, are all keys to lead us on our proper paths and purposes.
I never plan on these moments of reflection…they come and find me. It’s a beautiful time when I can easily weave a thread through everything that has happened, all the people I’ve met, and then with confidence, I can make predictions about the future. Many people have commented on how confidently and passionately I speak about Why Go Solo—It comes from these moments of refection, which allow me to get recharged and clear about the hows and whys. The hows and whys of the Vision. (Not to be confused with the business processes)
Visions are the fuel of all greatness in the world. However, some visions never get to see the light of day. I think the causes for a vision dying vary. But, I would venture to say, that the main reason a vision dies is because it hasn’t been fully developed and the real hows and whys haven’t been identified and tested. (A vision rooted in making a difference, creating a positive change in the world, and improving the human condition are the most powerful and easiest to continue to develop.)
A vision will eventually take on a life of it’s own and when it does, it guides you, it shows you the way and it opens doors for you. It fuels your desires and provides you with all the incentives you need to keep moving. However, we (the human race) have a funny way of getting lost even when we are on a set path. We put our heads down, get to work and we start focusing on meeting goals and milestones and this often causes us to lose focus and allows the vision to become secondary…and this causes the vision to slowly lose it’s strength.
Truth of the matter is—not everyone is met to have the massive, huge visions. But, we all possess the ability to have our own visions for ourselves, and often times, those smaller visions end up fitting very nicely into the bigger visions of the people we meet.
So…I’m at the tail end of my moments of reflection. I have come to realize just how much the “failure”, or learning experiences, from the Coaching Agency have impacted me; how the struggles to date, with Why Go Solo, have had nothing to do with the struggles themselves, but have had everything to do with establishing a strong solid foundation for Why Go Solo, and I have come to see how certain things are destined to start interacting together. (A new HUGE piece might soon be added to Why Go Solo)
It’s so much easier to put one foot in front of the other when you truly trust and believe it’s all exactly as it needs to be. When you can see each events as a series of perfectly planned happenings.
1 comment:
You mentioned your need to think, reflect and meditate and it reminded me of my need sometimes for silence, spontaneity and thinking time. My need for silence is my need to be self-reflective and grounded. It is an opportunity for me to have a quiet moment inside the rapid pace, contained chaos and constant demands of my job. Though Silence is not just the absence of acoustic noise, but also the visual noise of a busy office, the mental noise of multitasking and the interruptive noise caused by the all-encompassing connectivity of cell phones, email, instant messages, and social networking; what I am talking about is good old fashion hear-a-pin-drop silence. The type of silence that has the ability to rejuvenate my energy, and unclutter my mind. The type of silence that is integral to me doing my best work.
My need for thinking time offers me a chance to take time to process information and consider options for a an idea or a vision before acting instead of merely reacting with my top of mind thoughts. Many people in organizations today are going from meeting to meeting, task to task and conversation to conversation without time to integrate what they have experienced, to think about what they have heard, to contemplate a response, to reflect on their visions or to step back from the experience in order to gain a broader perspective. This may be a byproduct of the questions and tasks with which people are being challenged or it may be a result of organizational cultures that value the fast answer instead of the right one. What results can be likened to a game show condition where people rush to respond before the buzzer goes off and the chance to respond is gone forever.
This is the speed that organizations achieve that slows people down; slows me down. Fast wrong answers take more time in the long term and are seldom needed as early as organizations act like they are. The feeling of urgency and immediacy comes from the top down, from peers, from wanting to get something done and from being in a constant state of rush mode. When I have an opportunity to think before answering what I offer is more in tune with my learning, knowing and understanding rather than a knee-jerk reaction based in a fear of answering too slowly or being without a quick response.
I think this is what happens to visions that never get to see the light of day. Visions need silence to be clarified, spontaneity to be dynamic and time to develop and without that triumvirate a vision will never become the fuel of all greatness as you said.
Visions can be left to die, drive us mad or inspire to levels of greatness we never thought we could achieve.
There are many of us eagerly waiting the sheet to be pulled off your masterpiece Ann. I’m certain the unveiling will be worth the wait.
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