Making Your Vision Happen With Action

Seeing what you want and making your vision a reality is not just a good idea or a philosophy–it’s action.  It is the work, effort, and process of doing what it takes to build the Vision.  Your Vision.

If I lost you at Golf  last week, thanks for coming back.  I won’t use any more sports analogies, for now anyway.  I hope my last post got you thinking as to what you want to see happen in your life by 2013 and beyond in both the Big picture and in the small areas.

Don’t underestimate the importance of small visions and accomplishments–they become the bricks in the foundation upon which bigger visions are built.  (A truth I often need to remind myself of.)

When I was a much younger than I am now  stay-at-home mother of newborns and pre-schoolers, I was fortunate to live in Los Angeles where the weather is warm most all of the time.  Being from the Midwest, I kept waiting for the cold to come, but until it did, the Modus Operandus was to play as long as possible–which turned out to be all year long in sunny southern Cali.

New to the area however, and with no one else to “play” with, I reached out at  church to connect with some other young mothers. Through the vision of the pastor’s wife, Nancy, they had just started a “mom’s group.”

Today, such social support networks are ubiquitous, but back in the day of the 1980s, this was quite trend-setting. In addition to the weekly social gatherings with our kids, I was invited to a huge holiday event to  enjoy a speaker, lunch and the fellowship of other women– without children.  It was held at a banquet room at a Disneyland hotel and as most things are in L.A., it was way over-the-top and wonderful!

By the next summer, we moved back to the Midwest and I missed my support system and dear friends.  I envisioned what could be possible here that was like my “Mom’s group” from L.A.

So I “stole” their idea.  (Since I gave attribution to Nancy, the idea now shall be known as mine. :))  I began with a small circle of women. I shared my idea of a Christmas Tea.  The holiday event seemed a perfect venue to minister to mothers because I knew from first-hand experience, mothers sacrifice sleep and savings, cook, bake, shop and wrap, to pretty much help Santa deliver the whole Christmas package for the family.

Our 1st Christmas Tea had 5 attendees. That included me and the 2 other co-chairs. But I had a Vision of what could be and built on it. I brought others into the vision and they jumped on board with their own version of inspiration.

That Annual Christmas Tea just celebrated its 20th year Anniversary, even though I personally am no longer involved. It grew to hundreds, if not thousands, of women having attended over the years. Imagine the exponential lives engaged as part of that initial Vision!

This is a small story of Vision.  Everyday, everywhere, we enjoy the end result of great Visionaries much more accomplished than I, but even a humble vision can inspire as to what is possible — I worked, collaborated, and built on what was a done deal in my head.

The same can be true for whatever inspiration or idea you “see”.  Starting often is the hard part, but when you look at the whole picture with your mind’s eye, much like a finished puzzle, then putting the pieces in place is easier.