This is a story about three views of vision,
Which one to choose is your decision.
The first one is nose-diving and that isn’t good.
But wouldn’t people turn that around if they could?
Includes lots of mourning, weeping, and sadness,
No easy solutions to get out of this madness.
The second one is surviving, just keeping afloat.
Who cares how many leaks are in this boat?
Predictable irrationality is to be expected,
But excuses for mediocrity are to be rejected.
The third is thriving with a life of meaning.
This is not all eating, drinking, and laughing.
But with authentic vision, quite the contrary.
Meaningful living can make one weary.
The thriving vision is living a life that matters.
Taking action to help others, not just idle chatter.
“Do or do not, there is no try” says Yoda with the Force.
Nose-dive, survive, or thrive in your vision – decide your course.
Everyday begins with an indication of the status of a person’s vision. Whether in thought or vocalized, the following expressions set a course for the day: “Do I have to get out of bed?”, “Got up on the wrong side of the bed!”, or “It’s a brand new day!” The expression that begins the morning usually rules the day.
The seemingly harmless expressions are a mindset that is part of bigger picture. Everyone has a vision for life. Acknowledging it is one thing, but ignoring it becomes a bigger problem failing to realize the power aimless wandering wields.
Nose-diving is filled with ideations of “never good enough”, “who am I to think I could ever fill in the blank“, or general negative self-talk. People reiterating these phrases or some variation of each more than likely think they have no vision, but this is a big part of the nose-dive.
Lack of direction is like flying with vertigo. The pilot has no sense of up, down, or the direction the plane is heading. Failing to follow any course in life at best ends up like an airplane that runs out of fuel, rendered useless. The worst case is a crash that did not have to happen.
Surviving might include phrases like, “don’t worry, be happy,” “go with the flow”, or “you can’t have your cake and eat it too.” The deceptive part of the surviving is there are times this mindset is appropriate. The problem is embracing mediocrity without ever stepping out of the comfort zone.
Taking time off for recovery might be considered as surviving. The reason for the recovery has a lot to do with surviving or thriving. Many people retire only to take it easy. Without purpose, retirees become sedentary and listless. The shame is that the multiple gifts and talents of these people to help others in a different capacity go to waste.
Thriving visionaries take time to recover knowing a renewed energy is essential to doing meaningful things. They are in a sweet spot that is the right combination of being excited about the task at hand with the capability of performing well in doing it. The Yerkes-Dodson Law suggests that performance and arousal are directly related. Understanding how the combination is consistently optimized is thriving.
An example of optimization to thrive in accordance with the Yerkes-Dodson Law is in a basketball game down to the final shot to win or lose. The nose-diving person doesn’t even want to be on the court for fear of making a mistake. The survivor is on the court, but does not want to touch the ball. The thriving visionary player wants the ball to take the shot and is upset if that isn’t the play called.
Can everyone thrive all the time as a visionary Superhero? Of course not. Does an occasional nose-dive or time-of-survival become part of a person’s life? Certainly. Hard work, focus, and even suffering is required to maximize time in the sweet spot of thriving. The Yerkes-Dodson Law research identifies the relationship of performance and arousal. Each person has to determine where to live the majority of a visionary life – nose-diving, surviving, or thriving.