Vision Quest

As a final reading it is worth taking a look at this article from the Harvard Business Review 'Manage Your Energy Not Your Time' click on the link to open the PDF

“Excellence then, is not an act but a habit”
Aristotle

Now you are at the end of the Vision Quest Program the question is how to maintain your momentum?

By now you should have a good daily practice established so consider the following:-

- What activities do I need to do every day to maintain momentum?

How often do you let things slide because you don’t want to upset people or it’s easier not to make a fuss?

Do you lie in bed later on wishing you had stood up for yourself?

You will fail to honour others if you don’t honour yourself first because the most precious gift you can give another is truth.

In order to know where we are going we need to know where we have been and where we are know. Focussing too much on the Past or the Future may cause you to forget where you are right now. Acknowledging your place on the journey is important because in every moment we have the opportunity to create ourselves as the person we wish to be.

We have been led to believe that time flows forever forwards. That the past creates the present which in turn creates the future. This way of thinking sticks us well and truly in the mire of thinking, rationalising and worrying about how we can create the future we want.

Once you have your Vision along with the Milestones and the Action Plan try the following exercise:-

Go off to a quite place where you can meditate and get yourself into a calm centred and relaxed state. Now take yourself forwards in time to the end point in your Vision (whatever time frame you set for your Vision – e.g. 6 months, 2 years, 5 years etc).

Now you have the key 80/20 issues and milestones for either each one or the overall Vision the next step is to develop an action plan. For each issue there are 5 areas or conversations you need to address.

Once you have done the Vision Quest exercise and you are happy with your vision statements you need to take some time out and 'sit' in that ideal future. When you can see, feel and touch the ideal future look backwards in time to the present and think about what the key milestones were that showed you things were changing.

Stay loose.  Learn to watch snails.  Plant impossible gardens.  Invite someone dangerous to tea.  Make little signs that say Yes !  and post them all over your house.  Make friends with freedom and uncertainty.  Look forward to dreams.  Cry during movies.  Swing as high as you can on a swingset, by moonlight.  Cultivate moods. 

by Chuck Salter
First appeared: Fast Company issue 30 page 198 December 1999 

"When you learn how to die, you learn how to live."