|
Vision discovery is a very proactive, constructive,
energizing process of self-discovery
that starts with a process that takes between thirty
and ninety days.
Each day write one or both of the following things:
1. One thing that is important to you.
2. One thing that you believe to be true.
Each is only a sentence. Write only one or two
sentences daily, but do it everyday.
Just write them down without any thought
of what is going to be done with this
information.
The idea here is to get a picture of your beliefs and priorities
through a period of time
that is long enough to capture the tenor of
your life as you live it.
After 30 Days: divide your beliefs and priorities
into categories.
Make your own categories.
Perhaps you have: Money, Health, Family &Philanthropy.
If you have several items that are more specific such
as investment beliefs or priorities
related to money, or
cholesterol health, or instead of philanthropy in
general, maybe the local theatre or religious
organization is
special to you.
Make your categories specific enough to be meaningful
to you and broad enough to
comprise multiple entries of your list.
After doing this, if you feel that the categories are
complete, then stop doing this
exercise. The goal here is NOT to make a
complete catalogue of all your beliefs and
priorities. Rather, the goal to get a balanced
representation of your beliefs and priorities.
So, if this goal has been achieved, move on. If not,
do it for another 30 days and one
more time if needed. There are no merit
badges for doing it in 30 days when 90 days
are needed. The merit badge, for doing
it the right amount of time, is the foundation that
this process provides.
Next: what have you learned about
yourself?
Just the categories can be enlightening. Some people that think
that they are really
focused on money find out that family is much more
important. The opposite may be
true. Or, the things about money or
family or charitable giving or hobbies that are
important, are different than we think.
Beliefs are what drive us. It was said by a Spanish
poet that there is no such thing as
Beliefs OR Ideas, only Beliefs
AND Ideas. Our beliefs are the frame through
which we
see the world.
Challenge Beliefs and Priorities that are not
working:
Understanding what we believe is
imperative. An individual once told me that, “I know it
is important to believe that if I work
hard and do the right thing, the right thing will
happen.” It became obvious that he believed that
belief was important, but ultimately,
he did not believe the core belief itself. He toiled
without belief in a positive outcome.
His disbelief in a proportional result from hard work
contributed heavily to a lack of focus
on his positive vision, because he really
did not think it was going to happen. Our Vision
is like a GPS, global positioning system. Our vision
sets us on our course. And our
vision is founded in our belief. In this
particular case, he wanted to take the potency out
of that disbelief because he could see how it was
impacting his ability to achieve his
positive values.
It is a core belief of mine, and of the
coaching system
that I have developed, that a belief or priority
that is
detrimental to our greater good is, de facto, irrational.
I will continue on with the above example.
One of the situations in his past pertained to
a position he once held and produced great
bottom-line outcomes. He was rewarded
by getting the ax. As an astute
businessperson, he is probably completely correct in his
assessment of what happened and why. One reason for his
termination was his age.
I put it to him this way, “So, then, you
have generalized this to mean that because you are
in your fifties, you can’t make a lot of money.”
"Well no.”
“I was going to say, there are lots of examples to the contrary.
Do you know any?”
“Quite a few.”
“How many of them know as much as you do about their
line of work as you know about
yours?”
“I can safely say that I’m at the top of my field.”
“And are there people in your field that make money?”
“Tons.”
Being a bright guy, he saw the absurdity of the belief
that he had generalized from a
single injustice. We explored
the impact of that belief. If there is a belief or
priority that
is contrary to your greater good, trace
it back to its core and root it out. There may be
issues that come up here that require more intense therapy. If so,
see a therapist.
Maybe a therapist is not needed. The point is,
whatever it takes, weed out the garden,
give the lush plants a place to spread out
and grow.
This coaching method is all about giving your
strengths space. The only reason to
focus on any negative – or
weakness - is to get rid of it. If it takes
therapy, do it. If it
simply means realizing that jumping to such a
generalization is absurd, and letting the
thought vanish like steam from a kettle,
do it. Whatever it takes, do it and move on, do it
and move on.
This is a process. What you are left with after going through
this process, are your
positive, constructive beliefs and priorities
upon which to craft your goals and objectives,
which are the real stuff of your vision.
With that belief and vision, the journey is begun.
|