Wednesday Words
To Go Where Your VisionPoints, a few inspiration points for you and your business.
The fellow that can only see a week ahead is always the popular fellow, for he is looking with the crowd. But the one that can see years ahead, he has a telescope but he can’t make anybody believe that he has it.
—Will Rogers
In other words, Begin With the End in Mind.
And have thick enough skin that you don’t mind being called a nut. Whew, I know that can happen—and seeing what’s coming before others can imagine it, can definitely feel like a curse. If you’ve looked with the clear glass of that telescope, though, go ahead and stick with your convictions. There’s a blessing hiding in that curséd vision of yours.
Just keep looking through the glass now and then to make sure your destination’s getting closer….
Grow and be well,
Kelly Erickson
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12 November 2009, 6:58 am
I have nothing more to say to this one than thank you for 1) nearly making me choke up and sigh, 2) nearly making me cheer, and 3) nearly making me stand up and shake my telescope in my fist and say, “It’s right HERE, dammit!”
James Chartrand – Men with Pens´s latest blog… The Freelancer’s Guide to Working With Clients That SUCK
12 November 2009, 9:40 am
Saw this post coming a mile away…
Seriously though. Last night I was watching “The Dragon’s Den”, which has now been repackaged as “The Shark Tank” for the US (some of the same people on it even) — but if that description doesn’t do it for you, basically it is a pitch show where entrepreneurs enter the Dragon’s Den to get seed money for their projects. If the dragons like the proposal, they invest (in the name of business). If they don’t, they rip you apart (in the name of TV).
Last night’s show was about “where are they now”. Among other things, they showed the deals that got away, including one deal where the entrepreneur walked away. As he was actually, physically walking away, the resident acid-tongue, hard-ass dragon predicted the company would be belly up sometime “next year”. Eighteen months later, the company went bankrupt. Sounds kind of prescient, except that one of the other dragons claims that he got lucky on that one…
Not quite sure where the lesson is on that one, except I think it’s something like being right about the future is not quite as important as acting on what you see. Kind of like having a goal to work towards, even if that goal changes. Or fake it until you make it. Basically, I guess, anything that keeps you moving forward.
Can self-fulfilling prophesies be good things, too?
~Graham
12 November 2009, 10:38 am
wtf? Why didn’t my Wednesday Words show up until Thursday. And yesterday I was so slammed-busy I didn’t realize it. Sorry, folks.
James,
Always glad to help such a dude as yourself get all choked up. Proud moment for moi.
But nearly?
I shall endeavour to inspire even more stirringly in the future. Something to shoot for.
Graham,
And for you, I shall endeavour not to be so darned predictable. Hmpf.
Oh, how venture capitalists must adore being portrayed as dragons. Way to paint an entire industry with a sensationalist brush… ah, t.v.
Self-fulfilling prophecies… well, most aren’t good things, but they certainly could be, why not? They say Bill Gates can accurately forecast many years ahead.
(Of course we could say he’s got it easy on that front now, but it’s a talent he’s had since before the prediction was 2010, world domination, 2015, more world domination….)
I like the combo. Acting on what you see, in order to *make* the future you believe belongs to you.
It’s hard to keep hanging on to that telescope. But heck, aiming for the peaks in the distance is a lot easier with it than without it, no matter how good your hiking boots are. IMO.
Regards,
Kelly
12 November 2009, 10:51 am
Hey Kelly — just jokes about the predictability ! You know, foreseeing a blog post on foreseeing… My humour can be a little dry in person, which makes it nearly imperceptible on the ‘Net sometimes (though some might argue “imperceptible” ‘cuz it’s not really there at all… and some have.)
“…aiming for the peaks in the distance is a lot easier with it than without it, no matter how good your hiking boots are. IMO.”
lol — or what colour they are? (And yes, I do believe that the colour of your boots makes a difference. Dorothy never would have made it home if she clicked her beige flats together… just as she never would have made it without the telescope of the Wizard himself and the Good Witch and [creeaaak... the sound of a strained metaphor nearing its breaking point...]
I’ll stop now before I butcher your wonderful imagery even more.
~Graham
12 November 2009, 11:01 am
Ah the perils of being a visionary…yes, it takes raw, nail biting courage to walk that plank.
And faith. Lots and lots of faith.
But the end result?
So so worth it. It also never helps to have trusted companions to stand by your side cheering you on who believe in you. A lonely visionary is a tough road to hoe.
12 November 2009, 11:44 am
Graham,
LOL, I got it. It’s my humour that was too dry, not yours.
I’m going out to get sparkly red hiking boots now. I think that’s been my problem all along. They’ll go so well with my glittery telescope…
Wendi,
Hehe, no more lonely-visionary talk, or we’ll have James back near tears.
Near tears.
I just think that’s so unfair after two years of honing my tear-making craft here.
*composes self*
Seriously, though—yes, faith is essential, however you define it. The thing that can keep you going when there’s no visible means of support, when you are the nut with the telescope and you have to keep going. Agreed, completely agreed. A great point.
Until later,
Kelly
12 November 2009, 11:51 am
@Everyone
Aww…don’t cry.
This post wasn’t THAT bad.
(*ducks and runs*)
12 November 2009, 12:08 pm
Friar,
I save the very worst for when I know you’re reading—a dude with a telescope if ever there was one. Now if only you’d turn from the dark side…
Until later,
Kelly
12 November 2009, 12:35 pm
See, it’s NEAR tears because I’ve developed my gritty, hard-core edge that keeps me separate from the strife of the world. Mmhm.
James Chartrand – Men with Pens´s latest blog… The Freelancer’s Guide to Working With Clients That SUCK
12 November 2009, 12:44 pm
James,
You can try to hide behind that Suit of Armour all you want but I should probably tell you I can see right through you to that big huge-wants a big hug- heart in there.
But that’s ok… I’ll help you keep up that nitty-gritty hard-core edge Illusion if you want me to. Just saying, its the big heart that makes us all stick around…not the nitty gritty edge.
Let the tears fall man! I’ll loan you my bucket.
That’s what friends are for.
Wendi Kelly´s latest blog… How to be Happy. Now.
12 November 2009, 12:47 pm
ISO a website that’ll sell me a “gritty hard-core edge.”
I could use some o’that.
12 November 2009, 12:50 pm
Naw,
Kelly, You are so good at being aproachable! It works for you!
Wendi Kelly´s latest blog… How to be Happy. Now.
12 November 2009, 1:05 pm
Hehe. I wouldn’t change much professionally. But on a personal level, some days—what’s the line in the song? Friar’d know it—I break just like a little girl. (Ack! Veil dropped!) It never (rarely) (mostly hardly) shows on the outside. So I’d like the “gritty hard-core edge accessory pack,” just attach it to the insides so they match the outsides.
12 November 2009, 1:06 pm
If we banned polls do you think governments might start using telescopes?
Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome´s latest blog… Flexible Structure: Being Creatively Strict with Myself
12 November 2009, 1:10 pm
@Kelly — kind of like a Ferrero Rocher…
@Alex — they use them, it’s just that they’re looking for icebergs that might sink their own ships…
~Graham
12 November 2009, 1:14 pm
Alex,
Telescopes that nobody believes you have, in government?
Yeah, we got that. At the risk of going political at this very politically silent blog, we call ‘im Barack Obama.
Graham,
Ferrero Rochers break just like a little girl?
LOL.
12 November 2009, 1:17 pm
@Kelly – no, but they are gritty with a hard shell, and soft in the middle. Plus there are a few nuts mixed in with the chocolate and it’s wrapped in gold foil, making the image complete (or another strained metaphor — your choice.)
~Graham
12 November 2009, 1:19 pm
Laughing my tush off. Nuts mixed in, that’s me.
And headed for the nearest Ferrero Rocher. A chocolate lunch? Sounds perfect.
12 November 2009, 1:55 pm
@Alex,
I work for a pseudo-government company.
Do you have any idea how long it would take them to implement telescope use?
First, they’d have to do a feasibility study on the use of telescopes.
Then, they’d solicit competitive designs from several companies, while knowing full well who they’ll buy from anyway (a well-heeled buddy, of course).
After a decade or so, the telescopes would arrive.
Of course, the employees would not know how to use them.
Training would be required, meaning…
Soliciting bids from several training companies, and…
–
Having a telescope in government is usually only good if you’re at the top.
Because if you’re *not*, you’re branded as a heretic. You threaten the status quo too much, you see
(Says the heretic.)
Brett Legree´s latest blog… 6 weeks 2 days.
12 November 2009, 2:35 pm
@Brett
After all is said and done, they’d probably forget to specify that they wanted LENSES in the telescope.
Which would take them back to square one, and start the whole process all over again.
Friar´s latest blog… Things I Look Forward to Doing When I Get Old
12 November 2009, 2:38 pm
@Kelly
Okay (this is actually on topic, somewhat).
Telescopes are nice. But they’re only good if you know how to use them.
There are also “visionaries” out there, who believed in perpetual motion machines, using radium drinks to cure disease, and that Eugenics was a valid science.
What’s their excuse?
Astigmatism, maybe?
Friar´s latest blog… Things I Look Forward to Doing When I Get Old
12 November 2009, 3:02 pm
“What’s their excuse?”
They worked for the government.
^ ^
. .
^
o
Brett Legree´s latest blog… 6 weeks 2 days.