A funny thing can happen when you get clear about your Big Vision for your work in the world.
You start to avoid it.
You suddenly realize that every other to-do in your life needs your attention, like right now.
Or you let your waxing and waning moods decide when you’ll work on your Big Vision.
Or you put helping other people with their Big Visions before your own.
All of these habits can make it challenging to establish a regular routine for working on your Big Vision for your work in the world when that’s actually what it needs you to do:
Your Big Vision will become real by taking small, consistent actions.
If you find yourself not working on the book you want write, the business you want to grow, or the art you want to create, gently (no need to be hard on yourself) reflect on whichever of these questions jump out at you:
Increase enjoyment
Sometimes we don’t take action towards our Big Vision because we focus on the challenges and forget what we enjoy about the work.
1. What do you loooooove about your work?
How can you spend more time doing the parts that you love and less on the parts you dislike?
2. Who do you love to work with (e.g. ideal clients, collaborators, co-workers)?
How can you create more opportunities to work with them?
3. What is your favorite time of day to work?
How can you shift your schedule so that your Big Vision work happens then?
4. How do you most enjoy creating things in relation to your Big Vision (e.g. writing, video, audio, images, products, services, experiences, connections between people)?
How can you make time to express your Big Vision in a creative medium you love?
Get real about resistance
Sometimes we don’t take action towards our Big Vision because we don’t want to face the uncomfortable (but totally normal) feelings that can come up when pursuing it.
5. Who would you be if you took one small step towards your Big Vision each day?
How would that change how you think about and present yourself? What would help you grow into this new identity and tolerate the discomfort that can come with growth?
6. Is there anyone who you feel would be disappointed/angry/harmed if you worked on your Big Vision for a little bit each day?
Do you know for sure this is true? Can you ask the person who you think would be affected?
7. How do you feel about the unknown quality of the creative process?
If it feels uncomfortable, how can you get support, or gain skills to help you tolerate uncertainty and take leaps of faith?
8. What is your biggest fear about committing to taking small steps towards your Big Vision each day?
How can you get support, or gain skills to help you work with these fears so they don’t run the show?
Making your Big Vision real requires that you take small, regular actions while increasing your enjoyment and getting real about your resistances.
To facilitate your taking small steps to reach your Big Vision, I’m thinking about creating a virtual co-working group that would meet once a week for 75 minutes. It would be an opportunity for you to take time to work on your Big Vision in the company of other Big Visionaries. If the idea interests you, please complete the short Big Vision Virtual Co-working Survey.
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HI Britt! The co-working group intrigues me but I’m not sure how it works. Would there be a 5 – 10 min checking in with each other at the beginning or end or both? And then we each work on our work individually for the time we are together? Are you limiting it to a certain size (if part of the group is about checking in with each other)? Is it about committing to a time to get work done – what is the main goal for this? Really appreciate learning more! Thanks!
Hi Katherine! I don’t know how I missed this comment! I’m still figuring out the logistics, but my plan right now would would be to limit the size of the group. The main goals would be to 1. Get work done because you would be accountable to other people, 2. Get support for challenges, and 3. Feel less isolated as a solopreneur who probably spends a lot of time alone working on the computer. I’m imagining that each person would check in for 5-7 minutes (depending on the size of the group) at the beginning and at the end.
p.s. and yes! I find myself too “busy” to get the bigger stuff done. but at least I’m recognizing it as FEAR (the first step in creating change!) and am starting to see that this busy-ness needs to be addressed somehow. (co-working with other big visioners could be it!) : )
thanks for always offering your bigger vision to us and really providing such great resources!
That’s great that you have become aware of how fear and busyness are holding you back from taking the steps you need to take to realize your Big Vision. Indeed, self-awareness is the first step!
Well glad to hear I’m not the only one who will do anything to avoid my Big Vision 🙂
You are definitely not alone, Madeleine!