Are you vision-driven?
Ever wonder why others seem to make life so difficult for themselves? That could be the first clue that you're a visionary. Here's a second. Is an endless supply of energy one of your most distinctive traits? Surplus energy is the clearest sign that you're vision-driven rather than theory-driven. Read on to learn more about your unique thinking style and what it means to be a visionary.
Why do visionaries have such boundless energy?
Where do you get your boundless supply of energy? You get it from the questions you ask to satisfy your natural sense of curiosity and wonder. It's the same place we all got the boundless energy we had at three years old. And, while most people have long ago abandoned their natural sense of wonder, somehow you've either never lost touch with yours or something has allowed you to reconnect with it later on in life.
In any case, you're alive with curiosity and in your case it will be especially concentrated around your principle driving question. Bottom line, it's this driving question that makes you a visionary. It keeps your thinking focused and wonder-based. And, every time you gain a new insight, it adds to your store of creative energy and to your abiding sense of gratitude, abundance and well-being.
Visionaries think differently
But in case you haven't noticed, very few people think like you do. Unfortunately, most people have lost their natural sense of awe and wonder. Having done so, their thinking has become so self-protective and rule-bound that it drains their emotional energy and leaves their minds fixated on depletion and shortage. That's something you as a visionary may find it difficult to comprehend.
Visionaries need questions
How do you sustain your sense of wonder and curiosity in a busy world where most people lose touch with theirs? One way is to have someone ask you the right kind of questions. Think about it. Who in your past has supplied the special questions that ultimately helped to keep your curiosity alive or helped you rekindle it later on in your life?
What's the message in this? Visionaries thrive on being asked the special kind of questions that magically unlock the insights hidden deep in their intuition. And, while very few people realize it, everyone has enormous benefits to gain from being asked those same kind of special, intuition-engaging questions whether they're vision-driven or not. Wouldn't it be great if a lot more people knew how to ask such wonder-based questions? Who asks them of you? Who's being empowered by the ones you ask them?
Visionaries have a blind spot
Have you ever noticed how we each see the world through our own set of eyes? This means you as a visionary may be slow to recognize the fundamental differences that exist between your intuition-based style of inquiry and the self-protective style practiced by most people. (see 'What's Your Style of Asking Questions?') For most visionaries, this creates a blind spot which can leave you puzzled as to why others seem to make life so difficult. In addition, this blind spot often makes it difficult for visionaries to get others to buy into their visions.
This blind spot can quickly disappear, however, when your unique style of inquiry is clearly validated. Among other things, such validation can help you deal more effectively with the limitations found in the styles of inquiry practiced by others around you. It also opens the door for you to expand your vision and make it easier for others to embrace and support it. This explicit validation process has proven to be an excellent starting point for some of our most highly rewarding coaching relationships.
The ultimate gift...agenda-free questions
Finally, there is no more welcome gift to a visionary than a ready supply of agenda-free questions. To be asked appropriate questions, to have them be free of agendas and be asked by the right person is vitally important to the process of creating a vision. In fact, most visionaries would give just about anything to have someone come to their office and ask all of the agenda-free questions they need to finish shaping and expanding their visions.
© Kurt Wright, Clear Purpose Management, Inc. 2003
Kurt Wright is the author of the leading-edge book Breaking The Rules and is Founder and Chairman of Clear Purpose Management, Inc., which he operates with his wife and partner, Patricia, from Lone Tree, Colorado. The mission of Clear Purpose is:
To develop the world's leading expertise on the causes of commitment- in its healthiest, least stressful and most highly productive form - and to make this expertise available to business leaders so they can use it to improve the performance and profitability of their organizations and make the world a better place to live and work.
You can contact Kurt Wright at:
http://www.clearpurpose.com
Email: kwright[at]clearpurpose.com
Telephone: (303) 736-6666
Toll-free: (800) 726-5880
