Look Up! Your Vision is Calling You.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
Often people who lack vision also lack self-esteem and look for acceptance and belonging. They can find themselves following others who seem confident and strong, but who lack honesty or foundational values and who can lead them astray.
When I was in direct sales, I wasn’t very successful. I made it to the management level, but I did it by compromising my values. I listened to a person who believed that climbing to management by cheating (paying for recruits products to make production) and “earning” a director title in this way was acceptable.
I had tried the honest way before, but I hadn’t been successful. I was hungry to get into the management echelon, so I listened, even though it didn’t feel right to me. But took a shortcut in spite of my gut instinct.
Once I made it to directorship, I needed to stay there. This was a harder proposition. I’d already burned through friends who were willing to support me and join my team. The only choice left was to sell products on my own and find real recruits — the honest way.
Sales and recruiting were things I hadn’t been good at before. But I was willing to try. So I networked and met new people at the mall, at the grocery store, and at local events. However, the people I felt comfortable approaching and asking for their contact information were those I didn’t feel intimidated around. These potential clients lacked the self-esteem, follow-through, and the money to buy what they said they wanted and which I was selling.
Even if they had been sincerely interested in meeting with me and purchasing my wares, their words and actions did not jive. While they were saying “yes let’s meet for a demonstration, and maybe I’ll buy something,” their actions said, “I’m truly not interested,” or “I don’t have the money to buy your products, but I’m afraid to tell you this outright, so I’m going to string you along.”
Because I didn’t have faith in myself I kept reaching out to them again and again. I persisted in calling them and leaving messages. When I got lucky, and they scheduled appointments with me, I would show up at their place only to be stood up. I felt disrespected and angry. This repeating scenario sent my self-confidence and energy even lower.
Instead of looking up and finding people who were ready for what I had to offer, I kept approaching people who were incapable of telling me no thank you. I felt desperate to meet enough people to reach my sales targets, so I kept targeting people at my level or below. In the process, I lost my vision altogether. With my credit cards maxed out and my team falling apart,I fell into a depression.
Inevitably I lost my management position.
Years later, I recognized my failure was twofold. I lacked confidence in myself and I’d taken a shortcut to the top. I had been out of integrity with myself. I was telling myself I wanted the position and the financial success it could bring. But I lacked the belief in myself and the opportunity. Instead of looking up, reaching up, I looked down, and I lost sight of my vision.
In 1990, I worked in downtown Camden, New Jersey. Back then, it was a depressing city overrun with blight. I would walk the few blocks to my office building from the train station every workday. One day, after emerging from the subway, I stopped in front of a tall building and looked up. I’m not quite sure what compelled me to, but I did. Etched into the crown of the building were the words “Where there is no vision the people perish.”
How ironic, I’d thought as my gaze came back down to street level, and my eyes panned the litter and decaying buildings surrounding me. I repeated the words in my head “Where there is no vision the people perish.”
That was the first time I’d read this scripture. The message of hope towering above that was seemingly lost on the people below truly made an impression on me that day.
Today when I see people who seem lost or downtrodden I’m reminded of this quote. Sometimes I have to remind myself of it too. When setbacks threaten to steal my vision, I think of this message. Through vigilant awareness of my thoughts and moods, I catch myself and reaffirm the power contained deep within my being, and the vision God placed in my heart. Then I begin again, reassured, and ready to receive. Grateful for the lessons in my challenges and stronger because of them.
I know what I want in life now. It is crystal clear to me. I have a vision of it that I must keep it front and center in my mind. Only then, while putting in the effort required, will I rise above my current circumstances (that have the potential to kill my vision) and achieve it.
I’ve done it before and, out of each mission accomplished, a new one blossoms — sometimes immediately, sometimes gradually. Inevitably a new ambition speaks to me, and I set out on a new journey.
