This is Part 22 in of a series on vision. You can read previous installments here:
Part 1. Part 2. Part3. Part 4. Part 5. Part 6. Part 7. Part 8. Part 9. Part 10. Part 11. Part 12. Part 13. Part 14. Part 15. Part 16. Part 17. Part 18. Part 19. Part 20. Part 21.
Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is simply passing the time. Action with vision is making a positive difference. — Joel Barker
You’ve been dreaming big. You have a clear vision. You’re taking action. But sometimes it feels like you’re not getting anywhere. It doesn’t seem that anything is happening. You feel stuck bringing that vision to reality.
What’s going on?
If you’ve been following along in this series, you might have already begun to see where some of the fault lines lie in our visions.
Here are five of the biggest reasons why you might be stuck in bringing your vision to form.
1. It’s Not Really Your Vision
Even before you were born, other people had hopes, dreams, and expectations for who you might become and what you might do with your life. Who we are is a combination of DNA and the beliefs, expectations, and cultural values we absorb from our environment.
As Carl Jung said,
The greatest burden a child must bear is the unlived life of its parents.
Parents and other early caregivers play a huge role in influencing our vision, but they are not alone. The images you see on social media, what you observe in your friends and others also influence your vision. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of seeing what others have and thinking that’s what we want too.
Finding your vision is the result of a process of peeling back the layers of what others expected from or projected on you, or what you’ve seen around you, and finding your truth.
Don’t try to navigate your life using someone else’s compass.
2. Your Vision is Not Aligned
If the wheels on you car aren’t aligned well, you’re going to get stuck driving the car. If you’re stuck in implementing your vision, it’s a sign to check your alignment.
Read more in Part 14: 8 Places to Check for Alignment in Your Vision.
3. Your Vision Doesn’t Factor In What You Need to Feel Fulfilled
One of the differences between a goal and a vision is that a goal is looking only at an end result and a vision, ideally, is looking at the whole picture. It’s not just about where you’re going, but how you’re getting there. It’s not just about what you’re getting or what you’ll have, but also about what you’re doing and who you’re doing it with.
Feeling fulfilled, or joyful, or happy is not just part of the thing you’re working for; it must be part of the process.
For example, if you’re a person who thrives when working in a collaborative setting, you’ll feel stuck when trying to implement a vision that requires you to spend a lot of time working alone.
Vision is not just about where you’re going, but also about how you’re going to get there.
4. Your Vision Lacks a Foundation
If you’re going to build a big, beautiful house, you don’t build it on sand. In the same way that you would pour a proper foundation for your house, your vision needs a solid foundation. Manifesting a vision is about bringing it into form. When we think about this in terms of nature, this is where the seed idea takes root. In the cycle of creation this is where earth comes in.
This is where your vision — and you — must be rooted in something real and tangible that gives it the grounding for coming into form. The foundation for your vision might include skills, systems, tools, physical and material resources. Your foundation also includes your health. How will you implement your vision if you’re not healthy or taking care of yourself?
5. You Lack Effective Support Structures
New trees are often supported with stakes in the ground that help them to grow upright. In the same way, when implementing your vision you need support from people who can help you stay on track. Nobody does it alone.
Environment is more powerful than willpower. And the biggest piece of your environment is the people who comprise it.
What your support looks like might vary based on the context and the nature of your vision. It might be a team of collaborators, an assistant, or employees. It likely includes professional coaches or consultants, such as coaches, trainers, healers, doctors, teachers, mentors, spiritual advisors, etc.
Don’t overlook the value of friends and peers who can keep you on track in the moments when things get tough and you want to quit.
You need people who can help you stay on track and who believe your vision is possible in the moments when you forget or have doubts, people who can see you for who you are and who you allow to see you as you are.
Stay tuned for 5 more tomorrow.