Defining your vision
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Abandoned highway ©Jeffarnold 2012
“Where there is no vision the people cast off restraint” Proverbs 29:18
It’s midnight and you can’t sleep because your so confused on where you want to go in life. There are a couple of doors opening but which is the right one to walk through? If you’ve ever felt this way your not alone. Many of the greatest figures in history have also stood at these crossroads. I know I have and they are never easy decisions to make.
One thing I have been working on lately is a vision statement for who I am and what I am about. These really help when you are faced with those tough moments. This came about because of an intervention from my close friends. You see I was trying to do it all; be a musician, filmmaker, photographer, animator, sound guy, lighting director, husband and run my own business. This often resulted in 15 hour days with little time for anything else. So my friends sat me down and said, “Jeff, yes you are ok at all of these things but don’t you want to be great at one?”. At first I was hesitant and still thought I could do it all but finally realized they were indeed correct and I needed focus. So I took a good hard look at everything and decided I was happiest when I was storytelling through video and photography.
And so the journey began. I was going to focus solely on those two things but I quickly realized that there are still so many directions one could go with just those alone. I could make films, music videos, documentaries, product videos, photo galleries and so on and so forth. This is where defining a vision started for me and once I narrowed it down it made those tough decisions a little easier. It didn’t happen over night but over a couple of years I began seeing it shape into a single vision.
My vision statement became: to create quality visual stories that help people think outside of the world they know and be moved to take action. This gave vision and purpose to every project I work on, photos I capture, films I am apart of and even conversations I have. This changed it all for me and gave me a path to walk.
What’s your vision? Which path are you walking?
1 Comment
Jeff, I’m glad this post was the first thing I read this morning. Like you, I used to find myself in a proverbial tug-of-war of interests. After serious thought about my purpose, I realized two simple truths that shape my vision and both are found in a context where I am no artist at all, at least not first.
1. I am a Christian whose ministry is enabled by art/photography.
2. I am a humanitarian whose mission is enabled by vision and creativity.
Unfortunately, many artist are free thinkers with affections in many areas, but without vision, each one is meaningless.
Proverbs 24:32, “I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw.”