Prepping for TCEA 2019 #Catalyst Part 3: Vision-Casting

What do you see yourself doing in 5 years? 

What will your job be in 6 months?

What are you going to be eating for dinner tonight? 


When you think about vision-casting, are you considering the potential of what could be or are you letting the pessimistic voice in your head hold you back? 

​Writer Seth Goodin talks in great deal in his book Lynchpin about our "lizard brain".  This is the part of the brian that brings that "Can't Do" attitutde to our ideas.  

We may be really excited about the potential of a new idea, tool or strategy, but our lizard braing comes in and brings out all of the reasons why it wouldn't work.  The best vision of the lizard that I have is Debbie Downer from Saturday Night Live.  Excitement and passion can be born out of an idea, but when the lizard brain, or the downer of the group get a hold if it, the adrenaline wears off and the negative pieces pull the optimism out of the room.  Like an air mattress with a tiny hole, slowly lowering it's occupant to the floor, the vision slinks away.  

Yet as a Catalyst, we must be more than this blah feeling that robs us of the great ideas.  As a catalyst, a linchpin or any other illustration there needs to be a means of seeing what could come beyond the struggle.  Erwin McManus spoke in one of his sermons to "Lean into the fear".  


When you are vision-casting for your group, school, department, or self, push your ideas beyond the comfortable.  The only way to get stronger is to push your muscles as hard as they can go, so that tomorrow they can go farther.  

To effectively Vision-cast there are 3 main pillars (for now) that you need to focus on:
1. What do you do really well? 
2.  What do you suck at?
3.  Where do you want to be? 

Vision-Casting can be focused on where you want to be, but if you don't knowwhat you are good at, you can get lost really quickly.  


What do you do really well? 
The key is being honest.  What are you actually REALLY good at.  What does your people thrive in.  What gets them excited to the point where they can self monitor and grow independently?  

What do you suck at? 
Writing what are you bad at doesn't get the point across.  We have a predisposition to always try to make ourselves in the best light.  Our defensive mindset moves us in a way to find the good that we do.  The truth is we all suck at something, the sooner we are honest about it the quicker you can innovate and get excited about what changes can come!

Where do you want to be? 
If there wasn't a constraint, a money issue, a personnel issue, what would you want to do!  You never will know unless you ask the question.  Our vision needs to be something that is out of our grasp so that we never stop reaching for it.  Don't vision-cast for next week...cast for what isn't quite yet.  Change the world by being a pioneer, not a cog in the machine. 

I will be presenting at TCEA on being a #Catalyst, at TCEA in February.  Keep an eye out on twitter (Follow @taylorhwilliams) for more information.