How To Turn Ideas Into Reality

Do you have a clear vision for success?

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We all have an idea, a dream, or a goal that we’d like to accomplish, but for many these ideas, dreams, and goals remain visionless thoughts never to see the light of day. The reason for this is explained by Martin Luther King Jr.:

"The difference between a dreamer and a visionary is that a dreamer has his eyes closed and a visionary has his eyes open.” 

​In other words, a dreamer who’s become a visionary is one who comes down from the clouds, identifies the details to make the dream a reality, and is able to articulate the dream in tandem with the details so that others can see the clear pathway for success.  And therein lies the keyword: clear.  To turn an idea into reality we need clarity.

In July of 2017 I climbed Mount Washington for the first time and as I approached the final stretch to the summit I became enveloped in clouds. This became a safety concern because I was relying on the queue of cairns to guide me to the top! Whenever I stumbled upon each marker I was unable to see the next one, leaving me to guess and hope I was headed in the right direction rather than over the side of the mountain.  But there were random and fleeting moments of amazing clarity that let me know I was on the right path:

​The wind would blow, the clouds would clear out, and I’d clearly see the path ahead of me—with the trail of markers laid out and the hundreds of other hikers that I didn’t even know were there! These moments wouldn’t last long before the clouds would return, but they offered vision and direction for making it to the top. Plus, it was also comforting to know that there were so many other people around me on the same path!

​This experience reminded me of the song popularized by Johnny Nash, a song that highlights the beauty of clarity: 

"I can see clearly now, the rain is gone. I can see all obstacles in my way.  Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind.” 
​
Clarity is the magic ingredient that can turn a mere dream into a vision and vision into reality.  Yet, without clarity, we find ourselves irritable and dissatisfied, clouding our mind from seeing what is right in front of us.

So the question becomes, how do we develop more clarity? Or perhaps a better question, what causes a lack of clarity? If we know and understand what causes a lack of clarity, and then we work to eliminate those causes, then we won’t have to seek clarity; rather, it will come and find us all on it's own! 

I believe a major cause of a lack of clarity is disorganization.

• Our lives become disorganized when we aren't clear on our values.
• Our lives become disorganized when we avoid responsibility and focus on the things that we think are important all the while avoiding the things that are really important.
• Our lives become disorganized when we blindly go through our days, stuck in a repetitive cycle that doesn't stop to reflect on what or why we're doing all the things that we do.

In other words, when we aren't clear on our values, when we have "backwards" responsibilities, and when we don't take moments of self-reflection we will forever stay "lost in the clouds."

Get Organized
To gain more clarity we can begin by organizing our lives in three ways:

1. Examine your values. What are they? What's important to you? Are you currently living according to your values? Why or why not? What can you do today to better match your actions to your values?
2. Identify your responsibilities. What have you been avoiding but need to take full charge of? What have you been accepting responsibility for but truly have no control over? Whatever your true responsibilities are, they are a part of your action plan towards achieving success.
3. Reflect on your habits. We will never change our lives for the better until we change something that we do every day. What is one new habit that you can implement starting today to move you closer to achieving you dreams and goals? In a similar way, what is one habit that you need to give up in order to go up? What are you willing to sacrifice?

Final Thoughts
If we follow through with these three simple items, Values, Responsibilities & Habits, we’ll declutter our lives to see all the obstacles in our way so we can gain a clear path to the mountaintop of our success!