What's Your Vision Prescription?

Goals, Vision, Imagination, and Innovation are personal ideas of how you see things that could be in your mind's eye. I know as a teacher, entrepreneur, husband, and parent I didn't understand why the people around me didn't always understand my vision and ideas when I shared them. I would be excited and share it with some people and they got it. Others however would look at me with a confused expression or one of disapproval. I then would get a bit frustrated, even upset when others didn't get it.


After awhile I started to realize that it wasn't their fault that they didn't get it. It was my fault in the way I shared it with them. I started to realize that not everyone has the same Vision Prescription. Just like having your eyes checked to see what type of vision you have 20/20/,20/40, near sighted, or far sighted I started to focus on what type of mind's eye prescription people had in order to share my thoughts and ideas. As a leader of a family, company, or classroom you must become the optometrist for new ideas.

20/20 Vision

If a person has 20/20 vision it is easier to share your ideas because they have a tendency to see clearer. Just like you, they have great vision in there own ideas, innovation, and imagination. 20/20 doesn't need vision glasses because they are capable of seeing and understanding out of the box concepts and ideas. They have visual thought process and often see in pictures. The picture of what could be is clear. Their vision is not blurred.

20/40 Vision

Those with 20/40 vision are capable of seeing the vision but still need assistance in making it more clear. They can and want to understand the vision, but it will be up to you to help them get all the way. You will need to give them a vision prescription that is not blurred. Perception is everything. If you look at something with total clarity it makes sense. If you see it with blurred vision then it is more difficult to grasp the same thing.

Near Sighted

Near sighted vision can see things off in the distance, but have difficulty seeing what is right in front of them. They have difficulty in grasping any vision, ideas, or innovation that are here and now. They have a tendency to use statements like one day, or if the weather was better, or if I had a different boss or spouse. They focus more on conditions rather than creating the conditions that create change.You may need the assistance of your 20/40 vision people to help them see clearer and grasp the idea that everything is first created by an idea and a vision of what does not already exist.

Far Sighted

Far sighted vision can't see things in the distance. They can however see things up close. In communicating to the Far sighted you need to share your ideas in chunks so that they can move closer to the distant idea or vision that you have. Remember with sharing you vision with the far sighted inch by inch and everything is a cinch.

So work on writing the correct prescription for the correct vision sight. It will be much easier to get others to see clearly.

Don't Get Stuck In The PLOP!

How do you handle stress, fatigue, and anxiety? We all have stress, but very few of us have developed a personal system of how to handle it. So often we get so stressed out that the only thing we can focus on is the stress, and like I have said before whatever you focus on expands. I know that in the past the things that stressed me out or caused me to worry seemed so large and after all was said and done they really weren't cause for all that worry and stress.

You need to come up with a series of questions that you ask yourself to analyze how important something is or isn't. This reminds me of a time that my wife and I wanted to take a vacation. We own our own business and vacationing was not always possible. Plus with three children it definitely was a challenge to say the least. Finding someone to keep the kids a major mission. So, Our oldest two children stayed with family. Close friends of ours offered to keep our youngest son who was six at the time.

This worked out great because their son Jimmy was good friends with our son, so we felt confident about the arrangement. We left and had a wonderful time in Jamaica for a week. When returning I remember walking into our friends front door only to be greeted by an excited and energetic Jimmy. Mind you, Jimmy was one of those six year olds that had a vocabulary as if he were an adult that shrunk. He came running up to me and said " MMMMr. Elkins you wwwwon't believe what we did". I quickly laughed at his excitement and at the fact that he was so excited he was stuttering. I responded and said "What did you do?. He said "WWWWe went to the Circus". I then said" That's awesome". Jimmy said"NNN0! That's not the best part". I then said "What's the best part?" He then said "We saw an elephant!" I said "That's really cool." Jimmy again followed with "TTThat's not the best part." Finally I said to Jimmy "Tell me the best part". Jimmy then said" We were standing behind the elephant and we moved out of the way just in time, because the elephant lifted his tail up and plopped on the ground."

At this point I said to Jimmy " It's a good thing you stepped out of the way or you would have gotten stuck in the plop." After that I looked at my wife and said I can use this. She looked at me and just shook her head. Do you allow yourself to get stuck in the plop when most of the time you can step out of the way. It's important for us to remind ourselves that we have the power to put things in perspective in such a way that things just aren't as stressful as we make them out to be. One more thing. Learn how to say NO. That has been a constant challenge for me. Taking on so much wanting help others and make a contribution that the only thing that happens is STRESS. So, step out of the way and don't get plopped on.

The Power Of Three.

For years I have had that things to do list in my planner and always ended up feeling a bit frustrated at the end of the day when reviewing what I really got checked off. The list was always too long, and pretty much unrealistic in reference to getting things done. I decided that less is more and adopted the idea of The Power of Three. I still have my things to do list, however I have three things and only three things to accomplish on it in order of priority.

Number one being the most important item that needs to get done. If I only get that done then the feeling I link to it is one of satisfaction and accomplishment. Number two then becomes number one and I add one more to the list. After working this idea for a period of time I realized that it was effective in many different areas of my life.

In my business I have the three foot rule for customer service. When I train my staff I explain to them that we want to condition our clients that three feet before they walk into our business they should start to experience good feelings and a sense of positive anticipation. After taking three steps into the business we as staff members should have confirmed that expectation with how we greet them. When interacting with anyone we want to

The Power of Three also works well with personal relationships at home. When you get home, what happens in the first three minutes pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the evening. If you are in a relationship, how you interact with that other person in the first three minutes is crucial. Do you walk in and look around for things to complain about or do you say " I am glad to see you". That makes the difference.

Another area the Power of Three works is Mind, Body, and Spirit. When it comes to mind I often ask people; What was the last book that you read? The response is many times one of confusion. I also ask what are they learning. Whether it is playing the guitar, painting, taking a college course, or learning a new language. Learning new things expands you as a human being. Become a lifetime learner. Remember if you are not expanding then you are contracting. Come up with three things that you could learn to expand your mind. Take one at a time.

When it comes to body. What physically are you doing to be active, eat better, and create the energy that helps you to be more enthusiastic about life in general. The nutrition and exercise industry is a multi billion dollar a year industry. One of the things it does not focus on is what is practical for you. It could be walking everyday for twenty minutes. Very often when I work one on one with students I ask them; How many push ups do you do everyday? The response many times is none or I am not good at push ups. Well could you do three push ups a day? Could you make three healthy food choices? Start small, but be consistent.

The Human Spirit needs to be constantly renewed. It reminds me of Eagle behavior. Most people don't realize that when eagles fly at lower altitudes they are constantly being attacked by crows pecking at them. The fact is, that an eagle could clearly focus on pursuing the crows and kill them. However the eagles strategy is to fly to a higher altitude that the crows cannot reach. What inspires you to fly to a higher altitude? It could be your faith, reading inspiring literature, or that green time of getting closer to nature. Find out what that is for you and make sure you do it when your spirit feels weakened. I think you will see the difference.