How to think like a Visionary

©Ralph Jean-Paul

I’m sure at one time or another you’ve thought of a good idea or invention that would make life easier, more enjoyable, or safe.  Maybe you came up with a kitchen utensil that would make cooking a breeze.  Or you thought of something that car manufactures should do that would make their cars safer for drivers and passengers.  We’ve all have had an idea for something that doesn’t exist yet but should. 

The greatest inventors, leaders, and overachievers have one thing in common, a great vision.  All of us have the ability to create great possibilities in our minds but we usually squash them before they have the opportunity to get off the ground.  Although we all can’t be great inventors and leaders, we can use the same visionary mindset that they posses to help us in our daily lives.

Advantage of the Visionary

People who have great vision have great influence.  There is something special about someone who sees great possibilities.  People seem to gravitate towards those individuals whose thoughts expand beyond ideas and thoughts of the masses.  Think about a person who is a good storyteller.  Usually that person can paint a word picture of what happened, how it happened, and who it happened to, with amazing clarity.  Visionaries also have this ability.  If they didn’t, they would never be able to persuade others to buy into their vision.  When you begin to think the same way, you will begin to posses this ability.   

 Being able to come up with ideas and unique solutions to problems is also a big advantage in the workplace.  CEOs and heads of boards are in charge mainly because of their ability to create a vision of where they want their company to be.  Visionaries also have great problem solving skills that create a perception of competence and confidence when there is a decision to be made.  These two attributes combined gives the visionary an advantage over other employees.  

Let your mind roam

The imagination of a child is amazing.  As a child I use to spend hours outside playing and pretending that I was the hero in an adventure that I created.  I would know all the details about how I would win the fight or the game.  To someone passing by I must’ve looked weird jumping around, and fighting with air.  In my imagination, there was no limit to my ability and my friends and I could entertain ourselves for hours as long as we kept coming up with games and different scenarios.

Letting your mind roam to create possibilities is a strong characteristic of great visionaries. Just like the invisible villains that I would conquer on a daily basis, as a visionary you must be able to see the things that are invisible to other people.  Those visions should be real to you.  Boundaries on your thinking disable your actions towards those visions.  

Throw out Doubt

As adults our imaginations do not run as free as children for one main reason.  Doubt.  Doubt defuses possibilities and limits thinking.  If you’ve ever been in a conference call or staff meeting, you’ve probably notice that there is usually at least one person that constantly brings up conflicts and problems with the department that they work in.  I’ve been in meetings that have gone hours over time just because one person is overly concerned with the problems that a new procedure or system may cause.

This is the way your mind works when you begin to think of possibilities that are outside of the “normal” realm of thinking.  Doubt is like that person in the meetings that has one hundred different reasons why something will not work.  The doubts that your mind might create may not even be valid but they arise anyway and may cause you to think twice about your idea.

The best way to silence doubt is to brainstorm.  When you brainstorm, you are writing down ideas and thoughts about your vision.  All of your ideas and thoughts!  No matter how crazy or outlandish it might seem, write it down.  Once you’ve committed to writing down what is in your head, you bypass the first line of doubt that your mind creates.  With time, your ideas will become clearer and the possibilities of them materializing will become realer. 

You're close when people start calling you crazy

It’s been said that when Walt Disney presented ideas to his board members, he loved it when no one agreed with him.  He embraced the challenge of doing something that other people thought was crazy.  With his extraordinary ability to come up with supremely unique and sometimes ridiculous ideas, it surprising anyone got behind Walt to support his vision.  Think about it, would you give a bunch of money to someone who wanted to build a business that revolved around a mouse, some dwarfs and a fairy?

When Henry Ford started making cars everyone thought that the “horseless carriage” was insane.  People have been using horses for centuries and the thought of changing was unheard of.  Movies with sound, airplanes, even windshield wipers were laughed at in the beginning.  Sometimes the ideas that seem crazy at the time are actually the ones that are the most brilliant.  Could you imagine driving down the road and stopping every time there was a little water or snow on your windshield?

As a visionary, start going against what everyone else is doing.  Some of the most whacked out, crazy, ridiculous ideas are the ones that lead to great success.  When your ideas and visions are considered crazy to others you may be on the road to greatness.

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