Cultivating Your Visionary Message

Your vision is only as strong as your clear message.

How you share, talk about, write and communicate your message will insure it's success, or it's failure. It's honestly that simple.

Those people who master the art of communication, tend to make a greater impact, and change more lives, and reap the benefits of that vision as well.

These concepts are easy to understand, but can take a while to master, so I thought I would just share some ideas that might help some of you see your own vision in a different way, and maybe craft your own unique point of view, to help you on your path.

Here is an example to help illustrate my point:

Fred's Vision: To share the Art of Tracking to the World

Fred's Mission: To run workshops and intensive programs in tracking for kids, adults and elders.

(In this example, my mythical "Fred" has a wonderful inspiration to make the world happier, healthier and smarter through getting people outside and tracking and learning about nature, the senses, inner and outer awareness and more. However, this mission/vision is not easily understood by the average person in America, so, to fully stand out from all the other Trackers, and other nature based educators, "Fred" needs to have some Strong Points of View that he can share with people, so they can 'get' what he is trying to do, and what he's all about.)

Fred's Points of View:

One: When a person learns to track, he or she gains powerful tools for life.

Two: Tracking will connect you to nature faster than any other means.

Three: Tracking is the doorway to the spiritual side of our human nature.

Four: To master tracking, you must first learn how to think.

Okay, I could go on and on and on here, but I think you get my point. Each of these statements have strong beliefs associated with their understanding, and as you can see, each one of them could be a video, or a blog post, or an article in a magazine or online publication. Or it could be a chapter in a book. How you communicate these ideas, these points of view, to your ideal clients, is what determines your visionary success or failure.

To understand it deeper, what I'm trying to say is this: To walk your vision, you have to COMMIT. You have to actually stand up for something, and you have to share it in way that leaves no room for ambiguity. It can't be vague or fuzzy or anything like that, to your ideal clients (and even those people who aren't your ideal clients. Everyone should be able to understand your point of view, even if they don't necessarily agree with it or you.)

So, you have to back up your points of view with clear reasoning, emotional connection and your 'why'. Why do you think that point of view is valid? What stories, experiences or data backs up your claims? You can't just 'hope' that people will understand you, and that they will automatically tune in to what you are sharing. You have to make sure that it's clear.

This means studying the language that your ideal clients use, and are familiar with, so you can share your points of view in a way they can easily identify with.

For example, when I teach some awareness skills to students and campers, I often use Star Wars terminology to get my points across, because a lot of today's kids are very familiar with the idea of 'the Force', etc. This saves me time, and I know that they are able to 'get' what I'm trying to teach. I don't rely on it to go too far, though, in case some people are actually NOT big fans of the genre, but it's one way I can help over my knowledge be understood.

Your point of view should be clear, but it doesn't have to be simple, necessarily. However, you do need to make sure that you are communicating it in a way that is easy to understand.

Let's take it one step further using the last Point of View: To master tracking, you must first learn how to think.

My Point of View Reasoning: Mastery in Tracking comes when you've learned enough about the landscape, the animals, the birds, the plants, the weather and trees, so you can begin to make accurate predictions about the prints left behind. When you have enough knowledge and data, you can start to understand the world in a completely different way. Your ability to assess and question and answer your own questions, leads to thinking about the world in new and unusual ways. Learning to think and solve mysteries from an early age leads to great leadership skills, decision making, problem solving and interpreting random bits of data to make accurate assessments about lots of different situations.

I'm kind of moving through this rough outline very quickly, because I'm hoping you get it, and I don't want this to be too long. What I'm trying to say is, Tracking makes you Think. Tracking makes you Smarter. Tracking is about Learning to Love Learning about Stuff, all the time.

It's pretty simple, really. But in order to communicate this to people, you have to share this with people, over and over again, and drive these points home. You have to share your message with anyone who will listen.

I won't lie to you: Doing this is hard work. Honing your message, getting great at your stories and presentations, and crafting all this stuff isn't always easy. You have to ask people for their feedback. You have to try something out, and then try it again, and then try it again, unitl you get it as close as you can to being easy and smooth.

The payoff, though, is massive. When people understand who you are, what you do, and why you do it, they can make a decision as to whether or not they support you. They can make decisons to take your tracking program. They can decide to share your message with their friends, and more. Your vision can plant seeds, and sprout, and then grow.

If you're walking a good vision, and you want to see it flourish, figure out what your unique point of view is. Give yourself room for four or five of them, and see if you can write them down in a very easy to understand way. Don't just hope that people will get it, though. Ask people to watch, listen or read it, and get their feedback on it. Get data. Ask for help. Make sure to ask them to repeat what they think your main point of view is, after listening or reading, and then compare your results with what they're sharing. Do they match? Are they way, way off?

Don't be afraid to be bold! Stake your claim! Take a stand! It has to be 'felt', emotionally, for people to really connect with you and your vision. Make sure that the emotion is part of your message.

As my friend Brian G. Johnson likes to say, "Failure is Information." Which means, even when you don't get the message you were hoping to hear, buckle up, ask yourself 'Why'? and go back to work until you get it right.

Even if you're not perfect, it's okay. It's still better than keeping your vision the best kept secret in the universe!

When you have a vision, you automatically become an advocate, and a communicator. How you do that is up to you, but hopefully this post will get you thinking in new ways and maybe in some good directions!