Vivid Vision® – Get Into Your Discomfort Zone

Every business leader wants an impressive, inspired Vivid Vision® for their company, but how do they get there? You might not want to hear it, but to find that kind of inspiration you need to break from your comfort zone. This means your location, too.

How do you leave your comfort zone to get inspired? This blog is here to help with that.

Leave Your Office

Chances are, as a COO, CEO, or any other business leader, you’ve built a nice office for yourself. It’s a comfortable space filled with everything you need to get your day to day work done. You probably even have some artwork or pictures of your family up for a bit of extra motivation when you need it.

You might think your office is the perfect spot to sit down and start mapping out the future of your company and your personal life. It’s not. Your Vivid Vision® requires somewhere different.

To find true inspiration, the kind it takes to create something as grand as a Vivid Vision®, you need to get out of the office and go somewhere truly inspirational. Your photographs and artwork around your office are not enough.

Where to Go Instead

To get inspired for your Vivid Vision®, go somewhere that means something to you. It can be something as inspirational as the ocean or a lake, to the forest, or even a hammock in your backyard, just not your office. You’re in there far too much to find true inspiration from it.

Not only do the places mentioned above ooze inspiration, but they also lack a lot of the distractions that can be fatal to the process of creating a solid Vivid Vision®. The issue is that as a business leader, your office is brimming with distractions—emails in your inbox, ongoing phone calls, people popping their heads in the door. As a business leader visualizing the future of your company properly, you need to focus. Those interruptions can shatter your flow and drag out the process of creating your Vivid Vision® indefinitely.

The Distraction in the White Noise

Visualize the hum of the office copier, the murmur of phone conversations, even the white noise of the air exchange. All these little sounds that seem like nothing can actually lock your brain into rigid, business-first thought patterns. When creating your Vivid Vision®, these thought patterns will stifle the creativity it takes to imagine a bright, exciting future. You need to get away from those noises completely!

A lot of people in business are decidedly left-brained. They’ve been successful their whole lives by using rational. Pragmatic thinking. That’s just the kind of thinking that stops you from making a truly inspired and successful Vivid Vision®.

You Need Space to Work on Your Vivid Vision®

When creating your Vivid Vision®, the idea is to dream about where you can go without concerning yourself with how you’ll get there. It’s easy to get caught up in asking how when you’re surrounded by sales charts and spreadsheets. Freeing yourself from your office also frees your mind from the boundaries of business metrics. You’re able to fantasize without letting reality rain on your parade. Your Vivid Vision® needs to “go big or go home.”

It’s also a good idea not to use your computer when you’re putting your Vivid Vision® together. A blank word processor page is far from inspiring and the distraction of email, the Internet, or other cyber-diversions is counterproductive.

Try using a sketchpad and a good quality pen. There is something truly inspiring about putting pen to paper. The blank sheet is like a blank canvas that you’ll quickly fill up with all of your brilliant ideas and visions for the future, Then, only once you’re sketched a rough draft, you can use your computer to put it all together.

Many business leaders complain that they spend too much time in the office anyway, Use this as your excuse to get out of it. Enjoy the sunshine, breath in the fresh air, and visualize your perfect future.

If you have questions or would like more information, I’d be happy to help. Please send an email, and my team will get in touch with you!

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in October 2017 and has been edited for accuracy and comprehensiveness.