Vision – making your dream a reality
I was at a friend’s 50th birthday party last night and ran into other friends. For many years, we were part of a faith-based organisation, met once a month and spent one weekend together every year. Our children were all different ages.
One of my friends shared her vision about getting the children to become friends with the older ones mentoring the younger ones. We created a buddy system, encouraging them to build and leverage these relationships.
This vision turned ‘social experiment’ was about 10 to 15 years ago. Fast forward 15 years, these 'children' are now in or have finished from top universities with excellent career prospects.
As we all know children sometimes listen to their peers more than they do parents. To the delight of the parents these children have helped each other aspire for better results and make some right education and career choices.
The relationship these young people have built over many years has evolved to one of spurring, challenging, coaching, mentoring and encouraging each other.
Our social experiment has produced excellent results and got me thinking of the lessons I’ve learnt from watching them fulfil our vision.
Here are my thoughts:
Have a vision and share it with those who need to be involved
A few of the parents shared their vision on how our children could help each other through a mentoring and support programme. They told a compelling story and other parents bought into it.
What is your vision and who do you need to engage?
Create an enabling environment
As parents who all lived miles apart, we knew the only way our children could develop the relationship was for us to make room for them. Every month, we released them to be with each other and many times, we waited for them even when we were in a hurry. We needed to turn our verbal support into action to help make it happen.
How are you creating an enabling environment for your vision to become a reality?
Is ‘your pot’ big enough?
Last week’s post was inspired by a plant so I thought I would continue the trend this week. Recently a friend gave me a plant and it was in a small pot, and she explained that if I wanted it to grow really big, all I needed to do was plant it in a larger pot. This particular plant’s size is determined by the space it is given.
I found this fascinating. Of course, I know the conditions that make plants grow but there are some plants that stay the same regardless of the size of their pots.
What does this mean for us?
Where we are planted and the conditions we are planted in will work together to determine our growth potentials and outcomes.
Where are you planted?
Have you figured out where you are meant to be?
Is working in a large or small company the right thing for you? Do you have to be in the city or will an opportunity in a quieter town suffice? Being in the right place at the right time makes a great difference to our journey in life. We owe it to ourselves to figure this out and not be influenced by other people’s choices. Just because everyone is moving somewhere doesn’t mean it’s right for you.
What company do you currently keep?
Have a look at the people who are closest to you and see if the qualities they possess enhance your life and uplift you. Who are the five people closest to you and what do you learn from them? It is said some of your future accomplishments will be determined by the companies you keep today. Some of us surround ourselves with only those who agree with our viewpoints or tell us only what we want to hear, so we miss out on opportunities to be and do better.
What are you feeding on?
Too many people feed on a junk diet but expect a dream body, sadly it doesn’t work like that. I see people who are obsessed with their bodies and have low self-esteem, yet they spend their time watching reality TV shows and magazines that are filled with people who are perfectly made up. It’s no surprise they feel bad about themselves.
In the same way, we can fill our minds with negativity or spend too much time with those who never see the good in any situation and lack an attitude of gratitude. It’s time to change your diet to achieve the life that you want.
My plant is still in a small pot because I haven’t made time to go find it a larger pot and I know I am stifling it and limiting its potential. Some of us are doing that, not to a plant, but to our lives.