"Live with vision and purpose.
Resilient people don't wait passively for the future to happen to them-
they become the future by consciously creating it."
- Joan Borysenko
VISION AND THE POWER OF CREATING
The most impactful part of my coaching is helping people discover the power in creating.
Creating is a more powerful results-generator than problem-solving. Particularly for complex, messy "life" situations.
Complex, open-ended challenges such as dealing with anxiety and depression, or creating a rich, simple and flourishing life, or a web-based home business or a thriving relationship are not problems, and not solvable.
They are mysteries to explore, challenges to rise to, and always opportunities to create — to turn dreams into reality.
Problem-solving may give you temporary relief from bad feelings you create when facing difficulties. But creating, when mastered, greatly increases your chances of crafting the real, lasting results you long for.
Creating is driven by vision, grounded in an objective, emotionally-neutral description of current reality. Holding vision and reality in mind together sets up creative tension that energizes and guides actions.
Within creative tension, you act, learn from experience and craft results you want.
Creating is senior to problem-solving, because it embraces problems in current reality and transcends them through action.
VISION IN THE CREATING APPROACH
A vision is a clear, compelling mental picture of a result you want to create.
Some clients struggle get "clear" but can't always make it "compelling". To create, you need both!
Here are tips for crafting clear and compelling visions of results.
Separate Vision From Reality
To start, temporarily separate vision from reality.
Don't worry whether your vision is realistic, or even doable. You won't know that until you actually create it.
Don't worry whether you have what it takes (time, money, talent, resources, etc…). You'll figure that out as you go.
To begin, you just need a heartfelt vision of a desired result.
Shift Focus From Problems To Desired Results
"Lose this ugly extra weight," becomes "A fit, healthy, well-toned body.”
“Quit smoking,” becomes "Clean, strong, lungs. Fresh breath.”
"Solving pollution," becomes "Clean, healthy streams, rivers, air, and watersheds."
Good start, but these are not quite visions, yet.
They're concepts - general ideas that encompass many visions. To give them power, you need to focus them into specific results.
Focus: Make the General Specific
It's fine to start with general concepts such as "health," "financial independence," "a good job," "a flourishing life," or "a healthy, resilient relationship."
But, to succeed, focus general concepts into specific results.
Take "A fit, healthy, well-toned body.” With help, a client clarified this concept with specific criteria to help her monitor progress and know when she'd completed it.
“A fit, healthy, flexible, and energetic body. Able to ski black diamond runs all day and do it again the next - even at 80! Able to cycle 100 kilometres to Sidney and back. Normal resting heart rate 60 bpm. BMI: 20. Jean size: 2. Feeling great!"
A clear, compelling vision gives you focus. Focus generates energy you can use to take action and bring your vision into being.
Which has the most power to move you to action - the concept or the vision?
Visions Grow In The Doing.
Success criteria and standards of measurement get clearer as you ground them in reality, and act on them. As you learn from experience, visions flesh out, get bigger, clearer and more compelling.
But don't assume that because you can think of the "best-selling book" you want to create that you have a clear vision of what it would look like when created.
Write it out. Make sure you're clear about your success criteria and standards.
Make Your Vision Heartfelt!
You can't fake "compelling." You have to feel it in your heart and body.
Scientific studies show that desires that are not felt - that do not register in your heart or your body - are empty. They won't motivate you, or help you set up creative tension.
When I draft a vision, I stand up and read it aloud.
If it makes the hair on my neck stand up, gives me goosebumps, or I pump my fist and say, "Yes!" — it's good enough. If it's flat, unengaging, not deeply felt — back to the drawing board!
"Make no small goals," says an old saying, "for they lack the power to stir our souls."
So make visions heartfelt. Get your visions into you heart and body, as well as your head. Let yourself feel them deeply.
Big Visions Emerge From Creating Smaller Results
But what if I don't know what I really want?
"Learning what to want," says Sir Geoffrey Vickers, "is the most radical, the most painful and the most creative art of life." That's why coaching can help!
It's best to start with small, concrete results that quickly give you a feel for the dynamics of creating. Create little creations, get the dynamics wired, then scale up.
One client became a producer of major motion pictures. When I asked her how she did it, she said, "Just like you taught me — vision, current reality, creative tension, create and adjust…. Repeat until done!
"I started with my little work nook. Then, with hubby, I created a home office. It was fun and improved our relationship, so we eventually renovated the whole house. Then we sold it and built our dream home. It was great practice!
"I did the same with films — started small and gradually made my creations bigger. It's so simple! Ha! But it took a lot of practice, and now I'm doing what, in my heart of hearts, I'd always longed to do."
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CAN COACHING HELP YOU CREATE DESIRED RESULTS?
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Are you down, anxious? Stuck, stalled or drifting?
Trying to spin too many plates on spindly sticks?
In transition? Not sure what's next?
Thinking about self-employment
but don't have a solid framework to guide you?
Coaching can help you clarify what you truly want to create.
I can also help you set up an organizing framework that embraces vision and reality, helps you make good choices and take actions that make your dreams a reality – with whatever you have to work with!
Creating what matters will help you feel empowered, authentically confident, free and flourishing!
"There are very few days, if any, that pass in which the lessons I have learned from our sessions together do not play an important role in the choices I make. I wanted to let you know how much you helped me get unstuck and keep from getting stuck somewhere else, which was my purpose in choosing to work with you.
"My creating projects (fitness, business, selling the house) are moving along. I'm no longer anxious and stressed. I'm relaxed, feeling confident, and moving in the direction of my dreams. I'm "practicing!" (Thank You Bruce for drilling that into my head!!) … using the tools that work best for me and keep me moving towards what I want to create."
— J. Bronstein, MN
I have space 1 new client in March, and 3 in April 2. Interested?
If so, e-mail me with "Coaching Info" as the subject line.
I'll send my 7-page COACHING INFO PACKAGE.
And info about my fr.ee 45-minute consult.
Email: Bruce (at) BruceElkin (dot) com
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VIDEOS: "KEY TO MY WORK: Shifting From Problem-Solving to Creating!"
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This video feature me, talking about the difference between solving problems and creating desired results. I hope you'll take a look at it, and that it'll help you grasp the difference between the two approaches.
http://conversationswithroger.blip.tv/file/3807483/
Thanks to ConversationWorks.ca for making and posting this video!
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QUOTABLE QUOTES:
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"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart ...
Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens."
– Carl Jung
"Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication.'
– Gail Devers
"Personal leadership is the process of keeping your vision and values before you and aligning your life to be congruent with them."
– Stephen Covey
The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision."
– Helen Keller
"You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.'
– Woodrow Wilson
"Begin with a vision and hold it fast
Reality passes but great dreams last
In time, wit and work will open the doors
To give form and body to that dream of yours
Begin with a vision and follow it through
For that is the way great tomorrows come true."
– Helen Lowrie Marshal
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Copyright (c) 2010 by Bruce Elkin. All rights worldwide reserved.
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