Vision vs Intention
Having a clear vision is something I often tell clients is really important for your business. It helps you to make decisions, communicate to your customers as well as generally being your guiding light when doubt sets in. I didn’t come up with this nugget of wisdom; it’s pretty standard advice to be fair. But what about if you don’t have a vision, or even an idea - what then?
For the longest time I didn’t really have a vision for my crochet business. I just knew that I wanted to do something creative, potentially make some money with it and that I loved crocheting - so that’s the path I went down. I opened up an Etsy shop, started sharing some of my makes on social media and learned as I went. I didn’t have a clear vision, nor was I putting any pressure on myself to make it ‘a success’, which allowed me the space to experiment and see what worked.
At some point I decided that I wanted to take my business more seriously. I could see other people turning their hobbies into their full-time jobs and thought how amazing that seemed. I started wondering what my life could be like if I was my own boss and crocheted for a living - pretty wonderful by my estimations. It was at this point that I needed more direction, and a vision of course. So I took out my notebook and distilled all of my ideas, skills and experience into what became ‘logii’ back then.
This is a very nice trip down memory lane Lois, but what point are you making?
You see, there was a distinct point within my creative journey where I shifted from intention to vision, and I believe they are both important and useful in their own way. One allowed me the freedom to experiment, without getting too wrapped up in the outcome whilst the other gave me the drive and motivation to reach a specific goal.
Depending on where you are in your creative journey, I believe one is more important than the other. Intention for when you have an idea of what you would like more of in your life, but no direction. Vision for when you have a clear idea of what your goal is, but need the tools to get you there.
vision
When I work with people, depending on what their goals are and where they’re at in their creative journey, I ask them to do a visualisation exercise in order to get a clear picture of what they are working towards. This is helpful for a number of reasons:
It helps you to gain clarity.
It helps you to tap into the emotional driver behind your goals.
It gives you a boost of motivation.
It shines a light on your reasons for working towards something.
It offers perspective on your current situation and how far you are from your vision.
Having a vision of your future life and business can make it feel more real. When you visualise something, your brain doesn’t know the difference between what is real and what isn’t, so it’s kind of like living the dream (for a few moments at least). This can be a great motivator, and as I said before it helps you to know what is right for you when you’re making decisions about your future and/or business.
Your vision can be your guiding light, your North Star. When you start to lose motivation, you can come back to the vision to remind yourself of how good and right it feels to be living in it. When fear sets in we need to understand what emotions live beyond the fear, and the vision is just great for that.
But what if you don’t have a clear vision, or a solid idea? Or what if you have multiple ideas? Should you wait until you’re clear? What do you do in the meantime?
This is where intention steps in.
intention
One thing that can hold you back more than anything in your creative journey is not having a clear vision. We are told that having a clear vision is the key to success, so when we don’t have one it stops us in our tracks. We’re either unsure of what we want to do, or we have too many ideas and feel overwhelmed with the options; so we end up doing nothing. We get analysis paralysis.
The decision of what path to take can feel too huge, there’s too much riding on it. If we are also prone to perfectionism, we can worry about making the wrong or ‘imperfect’ decision. So we end up thinking about it a lot, mulling it over and getting frustrated with ourselves when we don’t take action (ultimately giving license to our inner-critics).
This is why it is so important to set an intention and use that as a starting point. Forget about the vision for now; that will come. Setting an intention is what will get you out of the place you are now and into your flow.
So with all that said, where do you feel you are in your creative journey right now? At the moment, I am in my intention. I’ve not got a clear vision of what I am building, but a lot of ideas - and I think that is enough… for now.
You see, not having a clear vision is a brilliant excuse for not doing anything. Waiting until the idea has solidified, the path is clear, the image is strong, the stepping stones are in place - these are all excuses I would once have jumped on to keep myself tucked in nicely within my comfort zone. And not a lot goes on in there.
I’ve been slowly pushing myself out of my own comfort zone for much of this year, with some great progress made as a result. In honesty, I thought I’d have my vision by now - but hey, this is 2020 after all!
One thing I am quite clear on at the moment is where my skills and limitations are. So armed with this knowledge I have decided to keep on showing up, sharing what I know (or feel), following my curiosity and letting the answers reveal themselves to me. Because I will learn more by doing. I will open myself up to more opportunities by showing up. I can correct my course if I need to, but not if I’m motionless and stagnant.
Not having a clear vision for this business is kind of scary, but liberating at the same time. I am not boxing myself in or putting pressure on myself, and because of that things seem to be flowing with much more ease for me right now. Things may develop at a slower pace, but I am okay with that. I remember hearing in a podcast a while ago about “holding on to your intentions, but loosening the grip” and I think this is so powerful when it comes to my own happiness. Loosening my grip to a specific outcome actually leads to much more flow, and without sacrificing my wellbeing either. And clarity will come eventually; it always does.
work with me
If you’re feeling unsure of where you are right now in your creative journey and would like a guiding hand to help you through, check out my coaching offer here. I can help you gain clarity for your vision or your intention, or help you get unstuck and back into your flow.
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