The Vision May Be Clear But Understand, Progress Doesn’t Happen Everyday. 

Lesson in this post: In life’s journey, taking losses along the way has to be expected. It’s all a part of the learning and growth process. Just make sure that in the macro, the accumulated wins make the losses taken to get those wins insignificant. 

Let me know if you feel me on this. Today, I had a conflict of conscious about what I am doing and setting out to get accomplished in this life. My vision for my life and those that I care about the most who are on this journey with me is very clear. Sometimes though, the opposition that has to be overcome in order to make it to the next level just feels so insurmountable. Doubt creeps in and I begin to ask myself stuff like, “who do you think you are that you believe you are going bring this vision to life?” I spiral further and remind myself of all the barriers trying to keep me where I am like:

• How much debt I have…
• How much money I am NOT making…
• All the things I don’t know that I probably should know if I want to progress the way I say I do…
• How much time I feel I’ve wasted learning instead of doing… (But do what?)

Sometimes it feels so difficult and the weight of it all feels so heavy. I will say, that in these moments, it is really crucial to have a tried and true way to jump out of the downward spiral of thoughts that keeps progress from occurring. Here are a four important pieces of the puzzle to have:

     1. People on the Team Who See the Vision Clearly

Remember that/those close friend(s), colleague(s), family member(s), mentor(s), etc that during a sit down discussion about what’s good, they expressed how excited and totally interested they were in seeing all the work and vision come to life? They were mad authentic about it too and made us feel really good about where we are headed. They are important because they have the ability to remind us of all the things that have happened in order to get us to where we are from where we were. Where we are is not where we started and they’ve watched the whole time and know the story better that we do. Sometime another sit down conversation over food might help and give a reminder that, “hey, you’ve already come this far. Might as well keep going.”

2. A Reward System for Meeting Milestones

Vision boards are important because they provide a direction and visualization of where we are going and what we are looking to accomplish. It gives the vision a physical representation before we even reach the milestones. However, we aren’t there yet, and when we do reach the milestones, I feel like there has to be some level of appreciation for creating the growth needed to get to where we are in that moment. Sometimes just getting there isn’t reward enough. I don’t know about you, but I like trophies because they represent the hard work and effort it took for me to receive them. So when I create my vision boards, I make sure there is some sort of reward attached to major milestones. I know it sounds materialistic, but I think its better to have material things that have meaning rather than just having them for the sake of having them. It makes it like a game. Who doesn’t like a game or challenge?

3. A Tool to Map the Journey

I’ve said this before in a previous entry but at the end of the day, we all have our individual stories and we are our own authors. The greatness of these stories is based on what we decide to write. That means every step we take, every decision we make are all a part of the story. Just like a treasure map, how we document our stories and journeys can be a help to others who may be walking down the same path as us looking for the same treasure. Some use journals, some create blogs/vlogs, some even write books. However it’s documented, remember an important thing: Always measure success acknowledging where you are, from where you’ve come, NOT where you are, from where you are going. I promise, it’s always a way better feeling to account for all the accomplishments along the way rather than all the shortcomings of goals yet to to be fulfilled. #MajorKey?

It’s when we are able to easily put these pieces into play, without thought, when we reach these low moments that we are truly set up for success, knowing how to avoid the pitfalls and get ourselves out of downward spirals. Never forget, it takes a tremendous amount of PATIENCE to build out this million piece puzzle that has infinite ways of being put together. It’s a marathon that has its sprinting moments. The picture we end up with is totally up to us. If this life is to be legendary, we cannot be afraid to fail, to learn from those moments, take the pieces apart that don’t fit and start again. All of that takes time. All of that makes this story that much more dynamic and interesting. So keep the vision clear, and as Will Smith quoted, ” Fail early. Fail often. But always fail forward,” because in those moments when it doesn’t feel like progress, it feels that way because we are learning.