The Key to Making a Vision a Reality is…

Making a vision real is one of the most fulfilling experiences I know of. To take what is in your heart, what feels like a dream, maybe even impossible, and then one day it is the life you are actually living. 

Though the culmination of a vision is worth pursuing and an important element in having a good life, it is not EASY. 

Over the Holidays Curtis and I did some dreaming and imagining what we wanted to create this year. We then created our vision boards, which hold our Business Vision as well as individual goals, habits, and experiences we would like to create this year. 

I was in love with this vision! I felt the joy in my heart as I looked at what I wanted. I was in a great mood as I also enjoyed a much-needed vacation at the beach. 

Then came the Saturday before I was to return to work. Curtis and I decided to do some reworking of our website to include what our vision had revealed. 

That is when I got the KEY to making a vision a reality. Seeing the truth. Allowing a truth to be revealed, even if I didn’t like it. In coaching, we call it “the hard truth.” 

I remember the first time I had the experience of seeing a hard truth in a coaching session with my first coach. 

I was on my way to my first retreat as a part of the Co-Active Leadership Training Program. 

One of my goals was to be 100% true to myself with my new leadership colleagues. A few of us were at a hotel between the airport and the retreat center on the night before the retreat started. 

I was tired and hungry, and the hotel restaurant food was overpriced, and I just didn’t feel like sitting in the dining room alone. I wanted to grab some fast food from across the street and hunker down for the night. 

But… what if my new colleagues saw me at a fast food joint? What would they think? This was California after all, it might actually be a sin here! 

So I went into the restaurant and ordered overpriced food, feeling miserable. As I sat there, I looked out the window and was woefully surprised to see my colleagues crossing the street and heading for the fast food restaurant. 

Oh darn. I had a coaching session right after dinner, and I looked forward to getting some support from my coach in this low moment. 

I told him the story, and what he said shocked me. “What does it feel like to sell out on yourself?” he asked. 

Hard Truth. The question was asked with compassion, but it still stung at first. Then I noticed a lightening in my heart, and I laughed right out loud. 

It sucks, I told him. But it feels good to see the truth and have compassion for my weaknesses and be able to look forward at how I want to be now. 

It can be the same way with a vision. You want to create a relationship with your vision that includes seeing truths that may be hard.

For me, the truth I saw when I looked at my vision and then at my current website was that I had some work to do that would be fun and easy for me. I love writing, and I am excited to put my new offerings in the world. 

The hard truth was that I needed help. I saw there were things that needed to be done that are not in my wheelhouse. It was hard to see because I didn’t know how I was going to find that person to partner with me in my business. The person who knows what I don’t know and wants to be my partner. 

This is how visioning works. You dream and make a structure to hold your vision. Then you have to get into action. That is when you begin to see both the easy and hard truths. 

What I learned on this go around was how important it is to FACE the hard truth. Just like with my first coach experience, I found that it hurt at first, then my heart lightened, and I was able to open up to new possibilities. 

This year, as you get into action on your vision, I encourage you to face the easy and hard truths that will guide you to make what is in your heart a reality.