Obstructions to vision can be invisible killers to our leadership. This summer I had the opportunity to go fishing in Alaska for a week in the great open tundra. It was a trip I had looked forward to for a few years. My dad, brother, and brother in law all got to go on this epic guys trip. We took a float plane into a lake where we were going to camp for a few nights. I was so excited for this once in a lifetime experience. That afternoon we hiked a few miles to a beautiful stream that we were going to fish all day. Breathtaking is an understatement; it was an unexplored fishing paradise.
I was taking in the moment, looking all around me and it was more beautiful than I could imagine.
The only thing that made this day a challenge was the strong wind. As I was taking in the beauty around me I looked upstream. My perfect moment started to shift as I saw something curious, a family member that will remain nameless, get his bear spray out. He proceeded to take the safety off of the spray can and pointed it down at the water.
He better not, I thought.
I watched as he pulled the trigger.
The spray shot out.
The wind was headed toward me.
Before I knew it I was coughing up a lung and my eyes were watering.
Beauty and vision changed rapidly to crying and coughing, as manly as possible of course. Something invisible changed everything in that moment. I could think of nothing, I could see nothing.
It reminded me of times in my life where I lost vision as a leader. Beauty of a vision obstructed seemingly from nowhere.
When you are leading, the biggest obstruction to your vision are things that are seemingly small. There are 4 obstructions to vision that you must overcome as a leader.
Failure
“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Church Hill
What a great quote, thanks Church Hill. Is that all!? In reality failure hurts really bad. At least is does for me. Maybe you just bounce up and move on; if you do I’m jealous. I struggle and wallow in my failure. Sometimes I get way too familiar with my failure as I play it over and over in my brain, especially in the middle of the night when I should be sleeping. Often when failure happens all we can see is the failure and if we aren’t careful it can become part of our identity. Blinded to the vision that we had we can sit in our misery.
Moving Through Failure
At times I have become an expert at failure and so I have a couple tips to move through these moments in time. The first thing that I need when I fail is to get out and workout my body. A run can help me return my setback into its actual size. The world seems a little brighter and possibilities a little more exciting when we workout. Failure wants us to be still and to relive it. Working out is the first act of returning our enthusiasm.
Community is the next thing that helps me to regain vison after I fall on my face. The more spectacular the failure, the more we need to be reminded that is a moment and not our identity. People that surround us in our moment of need is not something that happens overnight. We need to actively build in community if we hope to accomplish any vision.
Busyness is one of the Obstructions to Vision
I love to be moving all the time. Sometimes it looks like a beautiful dance, other times I look like a squirrel dodging tires so I don’t become a pancake. Pancake dodging Zech is more often the case and when we are in this mode we will lose our vision every time. That’s why busyness is one of the sneakiest obstructions to vision because we feel like we are going somewhere. We get more focused on the car coming at us than where we are going. What is interesting is that a squirrel just has to pick a direction and it would be fine, but instead it tries to out juke the oncoming pain. The outsmarting ends in a death of a vison for us as well. Busyness has only one solution.
Quitting Busyness
When I feel an overwhelming since of busyness a lot of times I push harder. Somehow the belief is that more of the same will fix my life. The lie is that if we work a little harder we can work our way out of the busy state we are in. The key is to see the forest through the trees.
One way that helps me to regain vision is to make a list of all the things that I “have” to do. Once I have the list I look at it and see what things I can delegate, what I can procrastinate, and what really needs to get done. This little exercise frees my brain and eyes to be able to see the vision again. At that point you can see your list with new eyes and pick through the things that don’t even align with your vision and eliminate what doesn’t belong. To get vision back it often is what we don’t do more than what we do.
Offense is one of the Obstructions to Vision
Offense is an obstruction to vision. For example, someone spraying you with bear spray can get you offended, hypothetically of course. When we get consumed with what someone has done to us sometimes that is all we can see. We reduce them down to a moment in time or moments in time. All the while wasting energy and focus in a fruitless endeavor. What often adds to offense is usually we don’t just keep the offense in our brain, now we have to talk about it to others wasting even more of our precious focus and energy.
Breaking Loose From Offense
We need to rid ourselves of the chains of offense. For me this is done through prayer and alone time with God. I need God’s help to move past my offense and help me to forgive my offender. Sometimes a follow up conversation with the person that offended me is needed but honestly for me I can’t make that conditional of my forgiveness. When we make our forgiveness conditional on the actions of another we give them all the power. Choosing to forgive does not mean that trust is given back. It means that I’m no longer holding onto what was done. For me I can tell when I really have forgiven someone when I can think about what happened without getting worked up. Forgive so you can see again instead of hacking on bear spray and unforgiveness.
Lack of Sleep is one of the Obstructions to Vision
Sleep is so important to the way we view life. I confess that sometimes my sleep is an after thought but when I do this it doesn’t take long before I start complaining and problems become bigger then they really are. I’m in a season right now that sleep has been a little more challenging. Sick kids have woken my wife and I up and I have been less patient and excited about my business. My vision is suffocated by a wet blanket of lack of sleep.
Resting
When we struggle to sleep there are often many reasons. Sometimes it can be circumstances that are temporary, like sick kids or worry and fear waking you up with a racing mind. We need sleep and in the hustle culture other leaders often brag about their lack of sleep and long work hours. There are different solutions for this lack of sleep. Overall, if you have trouble wanting to go after a vision you may just need a nap. Jesus took naps and you should too.
Lack of sleep, offenses, busyness, and failure are all obstructions to vision and spin us up in a cycle of anxiety or depression. Take some time away to recalibrate what you are doing and why you are doing it. Pray to God for guidance, get some outside perspective, go for a walk, or take a nap. The chocking on bear spray will fade and the beautiful scenery of your vision will return. Be blessed on your journey.