Humble Vision
"Gatsby, he had a grand vision for his life since he was a boy. No amount of fire could challenge the fairy tale he had stored up in his heart. He had an extraordinary sense of hope but I had the uneasy feeling that he was guarding secrets. It had gone beyond her. It had gone beyond everything."
– The Great Gatsby
A Grand Vision is a beautiful but intense idea to thrust upon our psyches. A grand vision can bring a lot of hope, but it can also bring a lot of pressure.
A Grand Vision is your full of impossible achievements, their legacy, and their overall mission. It’s not just for wealthy romantics like Gatsby – Martin Luther King Jr had a Grand Vision, a dream. It helps shape our lives and direct our efforts.
However, day to day, a Grand Vision can leave us feeling overwhelmed and unfulfilled, and the gap from where we are now to where we want to be is so huge it can be crippling.
That’s why I like my coaching clients to set both a Grand Vision and a Humble Vision.
Unlike a Grand Vision, a Humble Vision is full of things you can do right now to be living your dream. It doesn’t require you to be richer, thinner, better looking, more accomplished or any of the things you think you need before you can achieve your Grand Vision. You don’t need to become anything other than who you already are. Your humble vision is available to you right now.
How do you set a Humble Vision?
For example, if your Grand Vision is to win a Gold Medal in freestyle the 2024 Olympics and raise a million dollars for sports education in underprivileged schools, then your Humble Vision might be to train every single day at the local pool, and volunteer at your local school teaching kids to swim. This relieves the pressure of being a Gold Medalist today, but still moves you towards the ultimate goals of your Grand Vision.
Another example?
Say, in your Grand Vision, you’ve got a full-time live-in assistant to help you run your tech business. To live your Humble Vision, you could start by hiring a Virtual Assistant from Craigslist for an hour a week.
I love setting a Humble Vision. It feels so authentic and really helps dissect what is important about your Grand Vision. The point is, your Humble Vision is a way to live your Grand Vision today – but on a smaller scale. Doesn’t that just feel so good?
