The significance of your calling rules out the option of retreat.
Life is full of them. When distractions come, remember these 3 things...
Life is full of distractions.
“Visions are often lost among the many lights on the horizon of life. Important things are sacrificed for urgent things. What could be is often lost in the flurry of what is. What should be gets buried under what must be.”
-Andy Stanley
If we are not careful, we will get distracted. If we are not intentionally fighting against it, we will get distracted.
Our lives are hard on visions. Life is now. Bills and crises are now. Vision often gets put on hold for later.
It’s common and easy to sacrifice the best for the sake of the good. Secondary issues rob us of the joy of seeing visions come to completion.
In Visioneering, distractions are broken up into 3 types: Opportunities, Criticism, and Fear.1
Opportunities
Every day there are opportunities that come along that have the potential to distract us from the main things we’re called to do.
Entertainment opportunities, athletic opportunities, financial opportunities, relational opportunities, career opportunities, vacation opportunities, etc.
“In my world, the opportunities with the greatest potential to distract me are always the good opportunities. Things I can easily justify: meetings, conferences, counseling, speaking, community functions.
To accomplish the important things you must learn to say no to some good things. More often than not, it is good things that have the greatest potential to distract you from the best things, the vision things.”
Criticism
If you are passionate about something that is yet to be, there will be criticism — Nothing brings out more critics than a vision. People will struggle to understand. It’s not normal in our society to pass up good things for something that is yet to be.
Visioneering warns us that there is a general distrust of those who are trying to do anything new or innovative, especially if they claim to be doing it for a reason other than personal gain.
“This is a pattern I see over and over. It is difficult to ignore because it becomes an emotional issue. You are not just being accused, you are being caused to the very thing you are striving not to do. That hurts.
Don’t allow criticism to distract you. You are not accountable to your critics, though they will do everything in power to make you think you are. Our responsibility is to remain faithful to what we set out to do.
Fear
Every vision involves elements of the unknown; often times more unknown than known. We must face and work through the “what if?” scenarios:
What if nobody cares? What if they reject me? What if it costs me too much? What if I fail?
“Fear causes us to begin evaluating our situation based on what bad thing might happen rather than what good thing we want to see happen. If we give in, we begin shrinking back from the vision.
Zoom out and think of the good that can come out of what you set forth to do.
Don’t allow fear to rob you from your marriage, finances, relationships, and career. Don’t allow what could take place to cause you to back down from pursuing what ought to take place.”
You don’t want to wake up one day and realize you have spent your time rather than invested it.
When distractions come, remember these 3 things:
You are doing a great work, you cannot come down.
Success will silence your critics.
The significance of your calling rules out the option of retreat.
Questions to ponder…
What opportunities consistently distract you from your vision/goals?
What do you plan to do about it?
How do your respond to critics?
What is your greatest fear in regards to your vision?
Within the context of your vision, what is the worst thing that could happen?
https://www.amazon.com/Visioneering-Discovering-Maintaining-Personal-Vision/dp/159052456X