“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” ~ Book of Proverbs 29:18
Vision gives us motivation to live. It gives us something to look forward to in the future.
The future can be this big scary thing looming over us, if we let it. As a college junior who graduates in approximately 1.5 years, I understand the feeling of uncertainty. People ask me the question, “What are you going to do after you graduate?” and the answer is always, “I don’t really know.”
But I have faith in Allah, and I have vision. Not a finite one, but a vision, nonetheless.
I’m a person that plans everything. I’m not very spontaneous, which is why I need some sort of vision, even if it’s small-term, to operate off of.
I don’t like vision without action. What’s the point of having a vision that you never act on?
Some people say they’re going to write a book. Some say they will learn how to cook one day. Others might want to go into health or engineering. Whatever you want to do in life, it starts with a vision, but you can’t spend your life dwelling on a vision for 15 years.
Newsflash: it doesn’t take 10 years to start a blog. It shouldn’t take 20 years to go into business for yourself. If a seven year old can be the highest-paid YouTuber, then what excuse do you have for not making your own vision into reality?
Don’t say it can’t be done. It can be done. It HAS been done.
March 2, 2014 at 16 years old, I wrote in my journal, “Ideas for stories – A story about a teenaged boy who … himself a gangsta, but then comes into the knowledge of the Nation of Islam and … into the FOI.” I proceeded to write down possible character names, possible story names, and wrote the first paragraph or two. The story has changed drastically from that 2014 journal entry, but I finished writing it and self-published it in April 2016. That’s approximately two years, and it’s not even a continuous timespan, as most of those two years consisted of procrastination.
So, how do you turn your vision into reality? It starts with having faith in God, but you also have to have faith in yourself. A truly made up mind cannot be stopped. Once you put an idea out into the atmosphere, certain events are put into motion to help you get from the “be” stage to the “it is” stage.
Faith in yourself is an important aspect, because most of the time we are in our own way. We let fear, self-doubt and low self-confidence stop us from achieving what God put in our hearts to achieve.
Once you have the faith to act on your idea, overcome procrastination. I’m speaking to myself as much as I am speaking to you with this article.
I hate the feeling of being unproductive, but I found a cheat in the system. I procrastinate on productivity with other sources of productivity. For instance, if I have an essay due the next day and a book to read for class by next week, I procrastinate on writing the paper by reading the book, even though it isn’t the most prioritized thing to do on my list. I still have the feeling of doing something productive, but at the same time, I still have an essay due the next day that isn’t going to write itself.
I do these trade-offs in productivity, but really it’s just another form of procrastination. A book that should’ve taken a few months to finish ends up taking a couple of years.
We have to discipline ourselves against procrastination in order to achieve finite results.
One last thing I would like to add is know that you can’t do it alone. I don’t care what it is. I don’t care what you need to work on or what you’re trying to bring into reality. You’re going to need help at some point.
I needed help with my book. I needed an illustrator to do the cover, I needed people to read it and provide feedback and edits and I needed people to help spread the word.
Don’t try to do it alone. It won’t work. And the thing about having faith is, once the vision is out there, Allah (God) sends certain people into your life to help you.
The take away point? Stop making excuses, get over yourself, stop procrastinating, find the right people and just do it.
I hate to disappoint you, but there is no special ingredient.
It’s all about trying God, putting your vision out there in the universe and then working to fulfill it.
Tweet us at @JoshuasTruth using the hashtag #JTVisionsToLife. Put it out there and see what happens.
“When you have vision, and you accomplish what you set out to do, there is joy in your soul, because you’ve realized what you can do, and you did it!” ~ The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, ‘LOVE YOURSELF: The Original People of The Earth’’ (A Message to Black Youth)
