A few days ago, I spoke with a successful person who has achieved a lot and is positively impacting the world. Such an accomplished person must have had an extremely clear vision to get there.
To my surprise, she did not.
She knew she didn't work for others anymore and instead built a career for herself, but she didn't have a vision. So, she decided to try something new that seemed interesting then. And that thing grew up on her, becoming first a passion and then a mission that gave her fame and success.
The other day, talking with Dorie Clark about The Long Game, I realised that long-term thinking does not mean that you must have a detailed vision of the future. It is more of an attitude. It means walking with your eyes up and your gaze pointing into the distance so when your vision or purpose shows up, you're ready to see it.
But how do you move forward if you don't have a destination in mind? In which direction do you walk if you don't know where you want to go?
In her book, Dorie suggests using the same approach as the successful person I talked about before: choose what interests you. She also gave another brilliant idea during our conversation. If you know what you don't want, as is the case for many of us, choose something that takes you in the opposite direction. A third way is to make yourself useful by finding somewhere to be of service. Just take a chance on yourself, keep your eyes up, and walk into your vision.
Don't beat yourself if you don't have a clear picture of your future. Just don't use that as an excuse for not thinking in the long term.