I talk and write a lot about vision, passion, and action. I meet a lot of people that have one or even two of those attributes, but it is the rare person that passionately acts towards the fulfillment of a very specific and focused vision. It’s not enough to have vision and passion, yet no action. You need all three working together in complete synchronicity in order to ensure that you are bringing your dreams to life.
What does it mean to have vision?
There is a lot of misunderstanding about what it means to have vision. In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, there are six entries relating to vision, and of those only two succinctly describe the sort of vision I’m talking about: “2: a vivid picture created by the imagination” and “4: unusual wisdom in foreseeing what is going to happen.”
Visionaries have an active imagination and that imagination tends to come to fruition. Fortune-tellers and diviners? Magicians and illusionists? Nope, just people that believe in something so deeply, that they have to see it come to being.
Passion? Is that like love and stuff?
Interestingly enough, of the five entries for passion, only two have non-religious or non-sexual connotations: “2: strong feeling; the emotions as distinguished from reason” and “4: LOVE; an object of affection or enthusiasm.”
By labeling what you do as passion, either for a living or a hobby, you are expressing a strong feeling that is not logical. Passion must be devoid of reason because the minute we stop and think about why something is our passion, we move from a realm of subjectivity into objectivity.
If you are passionate about your vision, subjectivity is what will see you through to the fulfillment of that vision. Why? Because you must believe in what you do, even when no one else does. That is the power of subjectivity. To you, the vision is already alive, and that is enough to keep you moving forward.
Act! Do! Create! There is no alternative.
Nine entries for the word action and the best simply states that action is: “the accomplishment of a thing usually over a period of time, in stages, or with possibility of repetition.”
Did you catch that hidden subtlety in the definition? Action implies accomplishment. Whether you are successful in the fulfillment of your vision, or it fails to match the grandiosity of what was in your mind’s eye, you have already accomplished your vision, merely by acting!
Without action, vision and passion are meaningless. Without passion, you can bring a vision to life, but most likely it will take a long time and it might just take a piece of you with it by the time you finish the work.
The solution is…
… passionately and actively making your vision come alive!
Vision, passion, action: all three are essential to the successful fulfillment of your life’s work and purpose. What’s your score?