What if this whole vision thing is wrong?

Companies create a vision.  Athletes and performers use visualization as part of their non-negotiable daily practice.  Scientific studies have even shown that people can get a 13.5% increase in muscle mass just through visualization.  Having a clear vision of the success you want to achieve is considered a must by most high performers nowadays.

But, what if vision was a misnomer?  What if what made it all work wasn't the actual vision, but something much deeper and more basic to life?

I think people who have great success with "vision" have actually nailed feel instead of vision.  Without realizing it, when these people focus on a "vision", they're actually feeling something more than they're seeing it.  They know exactly how they want a great performance, a highly productive team, or an amazing life to feel.

Working with horses has made it clear to me that vision is not sufficient.  When I envision a perfect halt, for instance, it puts me too much in my head, and the horse does not respond.  But when I feel what the vision of the perfect halt would feel like, it happens every time.  Feeling it makes me present, grounded, and actually doing the right things to get the halt in that moment.  I find the same to be true for bigger picture visions as well.

When you create a vision, everything has to happen just like you saw it for the vision to be fulfilled.  When you zero in on the feeling of success, there are many nuanced paths that can lead to that feeling.  You're able to take in everything around you and utilize it to manifest that feeling.

You can test this with a simple exercise.  Visualize your perfect day, in great detail.  Really see it.  Perhaps it begins with you waking up to your smiling child eagerly awaiting the new day.

Now feel your perfect day.  Start by feeling your heart expanding around your child in the morning. 

If your child actually wakes up cranky the next morning, which scenario is more likely to bring you success?  Which scenario leaves you in complete control of the outcome? 

The first scenario is already ruined.  But you can create the second one any time.  And the likelihood of your child waking up, eagerly anticipating each day, becomes much higher when you begin each morning with the feeling of your heart expanding around him.

Now try this exercise for the perfect meeting, the perfect project, or the perfect job.  You'll probably find it much easier to attain these once you know what they feel like.

Another benefit is that, when you're striving for the feeling, you don't have to wait for the end result to experience success.  You can feel it at every step along the way, because larger success comes by stacking up the right feelings. 

Life is the continual movement towards an ever greater capacity to overcome resistance and increase flow.  And that is a feeling, not a vision.

If vision is a misnomer, that may explain why, for some people, working towards a "vision" is hugely successful and for others, not so much.  Next time, try feeling what it is you want to achieve.