Something shifted. You can feel it. You just can't name it yet.
Stand Tall & Own It is for women in the second half of life who are high-functioning on the outside and quietly disoriented on the inside. You built your life inside systems you trusted completely — until you realized you couldn't tell what was actually yours from what you'd just learned to navigate well.
Host Andrea Johnson doesn't offer formulas. She offers honest thinking, sharp observation, and the kind of conversation that makes you pull over and sit in your driveway.
VISION is currently stated in the tenets of Intentional Optimism as: I courageously look to the vision I've been given to meet others' needs and add value, inspiring those around me. In today’s episode, I share my renewed insights about having a vision, and how you can create YOUR own vision in life or business, and why it’s vital to your flourishing.
Three Insights on Vision:
Discovering your vision takes courage
Participating in a vision board workshop opened me up to new ideas and possibilities
A vision gives us something to look forward to and work towards
How to find and create your vision?
What: Plan the future with imagination and wisdom
Why: To find your “why,” ask yourself - do you day dream? If not, prime that pump.
How: See your destination and then plan how to get there
You're listening to Intentional Optimists, the podcast for unconventional leaders, where you'll find inspiration, learn to discover and develop your own strengths, and hear from inspiring women just like you who are making a difference in their community. Who knows? You just might find yourself stepping up as the next unconventional leader right where you are. I'm your host, Andrea Johnson, the original intentional optimist. Hey there, welcome to episode 77. It's me, Andrea, and today we're talking about vision. The what, the why, and even the how. At the end of February, I hosted a vision board workshop with my friend Raina Rose. Now I've never done a vision board before, and if I'm completely honest, I've always viewed them as some kind of elaborate scrapbooking project. And you can hear in my voice that I said that with a little bit of disdain. But one of the things I've learned in the last five years is the value of what I think. What I put in my mind matters. A hundred percent. I've done so much work in my own thoughts, self-talk, and how I choose to view my circumstances, and I'm beginning, did you catch that? Beginning to see results. The process of breaking down old habits, deconstructing, if you will, old thought patterns, and then reconstructing them with new and different ones. It's like a house flipper, stripping the structure down to the studs and foundation, and starting over with all the infrastructure and rebuilding out the walls to look totally different. Still the same footprint, still the same square footage, still the same number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and living spaces. But instead of craftsmen, maybe it's mid-century modern. Instead of a pitch roof, now it has a flat one. You see where I'm headed, right? Now in my last solo episode, I said personal growth is a journey that requires change. So it's not for the faint of heart. But if you're willing, it's the most rewarding trek you'll ever take. And today, I want you to know that even if you don't know where to start, you can begin with a vision. Even a teeny tiny one. Let me explain. Within the intentional optimism tenet of courageous, one aspect of that tenet is being a leader. And of the three characteristics of every good leader, including charisma and servanthood, vision is the one that I think tends to overwhelm us. It feels big and expansive and even mysterious. And there are ways in which it really should. But here's how the description of vision is currently stated in the tenets. It says, I courageously look to the vision I've been given to meet others' needs and add value, inspiring those around me. Now here's why I said currently stated, because as I immerse myself in becoming and living as an intentional optimist, and I learn more and more about how to live those tenets out in my life, I see some of the limiting language I used at the very beginning. So I'm sure that this one will change slightly in the not so far off future to include how your personal vision isn't necessarily the one that you might share as a leader. Because of course, leadership does start with you, with the human in the mirror. And if you can't lead yourself, you have no business leading other people, right? Last week's guest, Michelle Tillis Letterman, put it this way: you need to develop a clear vision that you revisit often so that you know where you want to go. It's one of her seven mindsets of connection, and she points out that your vision for your own ideal will change as you do. Incidentally, if you're listening to this when it airs, which is I think Monday, March the 14th, Michelle and I will be going live on Facebook and LinkedIn at 11.30 a.m. Eastern Time, Tuesday, March 15th, where she'll be diving in a bit deeper into her book, The Connectors Advantage, and all seven mindsets, of which having a clear vision is number two. Now, if you missed the live broadcast, you can catch it over in my Facebook group under the guide section. The link to join, ladies only, sorry guys, I've had a few of those lately. The link to join is in the show notes. So let's circle all the way back to the Vision Board workshop in February. I went into this thing with zero expectations. Now, I knew a few things. I knew the importance of creating a vision. I knew that writing everything down was the first step. I knew the importance of putting things in front of myself to remind me of why I do what I do. I knew the advantage of co-working spaces and sharing insights. And I knew the success others have had with this specific type of exercise. So I knew, these are in quotes, it would be valuable. I did not know, however, how closed off I had become. I did not know how far I'd fallen away from an abundance mindset. Yep, the word you're looking for there is scarcity. I did not know how short-sighted I had become. Entrepreneurship is hard, y'all. I did not actually know that just writing out your goals, dreams, and vision is only the first step. And I did not know how profoundly changed I would be as a result of a little scrapbooking project. Here's what I learned: discovering, uncovering, and mapping out of my vision, however you want to describe it, takes courage. Especially if you want to show that vision board or your vision goals or anything else to anybody else. You have to be willing to show it. It takes courage. You also have to be willing to look inside, see what you want, see where you want to go. Sometimes looking at those things can be difficult because it means we're not there yet. So discovering and mapping out your vision takes courage. I had also allowed myself to fall asleep. Y'all, life, growth, all of it is hard. It's easy to just want to close your eyes for a moment. The problem for me is when I fall asleep for two hours on the couch with my contacts still in. But seriously, I feel like I'm waking back up to hope and to dream. Just seeing things on a page is different from seeing words on a page. Seeing a picture of something is different than seeing words. Sharing this workshop, then participating, opened me up to new ideas and possibilities. We've got some amazing brainstorming and researching going on right now, and some fabulous ideas are coming out of this thing. Y'all stay tuned. You're gonna like what you see. It also gave me a renewed courage to share my vision and my journey. Whether or not you already know what your vision is, this is what I call priming the pump. I grew up in Seoul, Korea, and on our missionary compound, we had a big garden with a well and an old manual pump. You know, the kind with a large lever that you lift up and push down and make the water come out the spigot. Now, if the pump is dry, there's no seal, and the pump doesn't have any ability to pull up the water. So what you have to do is pour water down into the pump itself directly, and it's called priming it. But then it can create a seal and then the water can flow. When I see what can be, even if it's trivial or silly, like places I want to take my son or a new car, or even passports for my boys, it opens my eyes to see what could be in between now and say, the Eiffel Tower. So let's wrap this all up with the what, the why, and the how. What is a vision? Literally, this is the definition. It's your ability to think or plan the future with imagination and wisdom. How's that hitcha? Now, before you tell me you don't have any imagination and you're not a planner, stop and think about these things. Do you daydream? At all? Come on now. You know you do just a little bit about something. I dream of taking again my son to the Eiffel Tower. I also want him to see Seoul Korea, where I grew up. I especially want to take my husband and my son to Techon Beach, where I spent my summers, that place where I feel most at home and myself. I also imagine a house that I design. One story, simple, not too much space. Did I mention I hate to clean? But of course a garage. I dream of time to spend with my husband and my son doing things that bring us closer together as a family. And those are just my personal dreams. But how about for my business? I dream of helping thousands of women find freedom in uncovering their voice that may have been hidden or locked away or protected for years, and to be able to stand up straight and share their wisdom with the world or the next generation. I dream of reaching millions. Yep, I did say millions, with the personal growth plan of intentional optimism, because I know what it has done and continues to do for me and my personal growth. If you don't have a personal or professional daydream, then you might need to prime that pump, my friend. So how do you create a vision? Well, you plan the future with imagination and wisdom. Sorry. I felt like that needed repeating. But for real, you have to actually do it. You might need to prime the pump to get started, and you might even need to start with seemingly selfish ideas of what you think you might want in order to get your brain into a different mode of thinking. Prime the pump. Here are some concrete examples. And of course they're just examples, they do not cover the full spectrum of any one of these topics. Let's say you have a family. It's possible that you wanted that family, dreamt of that family, and then created that family. I did, not in the way I expected to, but I dreamed of being a mom for years, and it took 14 years into my marriage to bring home my baby through adoption, but he's my baby. And now we are a family. If you own a car, it's possible you daydreamed about all the things you wanted in that car. And then you figured out maybe what you could afford. I have a new car for me and my hubby on my vision board. Y'all, both of ours are really high mileage. How about pets? Let's talk about dogs because I can speak to that one. But do you have a specific breed you prefer? Maybe just a general type, like a hound, a herding, or working dog. We're a family who goes to the AKC site and says, tell me what kind of dog you think I should have based on the answers to these questions in this quiz. We started that, I don't know, 20 some odd years ago. Told us we needed a beagle, and we've had beagles in our house ever since, and we have never been sorry. How about a vacation? I have friends who plan their Disney vacations six months in advance. And they share about them, and they tell us when their gear comes in, and they tell us what they're going to do and where they're gonna stay and all the amazing things. Their imagination runs wild, right? All of these things are examples of thinking about and planning the future with imagination. So let's look at those same examples and talk about wisdom. How many of you who have a family and you dreamt of one waited to have children until you were at a financially comfortable place to care for a child in a way that causes you the least amount of stress? Everybody's gonna tell you there's no good time, no financially good time to have a child. Trust me, I know. But you made that plan. I also have friends who decide they need a new car, they choose it, they know how much it costs, they save up for it, and then they pay cash. I've personally never done that. But I consider that to be a wise thing. But they've dreamt about it, imagined it, planned for it, and did it with wisdom. My husband will only allow me to have one dog in the house. Personally, I call that a party pooper, but I digress. He knows how many dogs he's comfortable with in the house. And I love my husband, so I wait patiently. And then my friends who plan for six months for the Disney trip, y'all, they do all that dreaming, all that imagining, and they pay for it up front. Or they pay for it before they go. Y'all, all this is vision work. It's not a mystery, it's not a secret, it's not something magical that you have to stand on your head and wiggle your nose for. It's that simple. So why create a vision? Let me count the ways. Because we all need something to look forward to. The house, the car, the vacation, the family, the second dog. Because most of us need some kind of map. Otherwise, we're just kind of floating along wherever the current takes us. Because it's easier to drive on a road than through a field, or to walk on the sidewalk instead of in the grass. I went to a lunch today, and instead of parking in the normal place I do, I parked where I could go to another place after we ate lunch. And I decided instead of walking through the store, I would stay outside in the beautiful weather, walk around the store, until I realized there was no sidewalk. And I decided to walk through the grass anyway. Well, it was full of divots, and by the time I got to the sidewalk, it looked like a three-foot drop that I had to lower myself off of. Fortunately, I'd been working out, so I kind of jumped down and I did not fall, I did not hurt myself. However, I now have a clearer vision of how I came, how I am going to go to and from the restaurant if I do that again. I'm going through the store. But it's just easier to walk on a sidewalk. It's easier to drive on a road than drive through a field. And because it also gives you a destination, even if you need to change it every so often, you have to have someplace to point that rudder heading toward that point on the horizon. A vision gives you a plan for the future using your imagination and wisdom. It is the what, it is the how, and it is the why. So, vision, as I've currently got it stated in my tenets, says I courageously look to the vision I've been given to meet others' needs and add value, inspiring those around me. That's a really good business vision. To inspire, what did I say, millions to grow through the tenets of intentional optimism? And again, last week's guest, Michelle Tillis Letterman, said it this way: you need to develop a clear vision that you revisit often so that you know where you want to go. No one else is gonna come to you with a special deal out of the blue. If they do, seriously, those people are con artists. So, my friend, is it time for you to clarify and codify your vision? And by that I mean, is it time to help you put it into a systematic code that becomes your own blueprint, your own map, your own point on the horizon? I work with strong women, helping them uncover their hidden voice, discover the path they were created to walk, all while holding true to their own spiritual compass. Creating a vision doesn't mean you have to abandon anything. It is something that helps you know where you're going. This is how you discover and create your ultimate and true vision for you, from a very small daily basis all the way up to your ultimate why and full life's purpose. Does this sound like what you need? Well, let me encourage you with these words. Nothing you discover in your personal growth journey will make you bad or good. It's what you do with that information that matters. You were created to be you. It is time to stop messing around. If you want to start with your own little scrapbooking project, like I did, the insights and feedback have been so positive, I've decided to make the replay of the Vision Board workshop available to everyone. So you can go to the intentionaloptimist.com forward slash vision and get the replay of the workshop along with a simple worksheet of journal prompts to help you get started. Again, it's just priming the pump. Of course, if you're ready to start down your path of growth and development, you can book a free 30-minute consultation and we can see where you might need to start. We can walk this together. There is no need for you to book the status quo on your own. Trust me, having a safe and welcoming community to help you figure things out in is so much less stressful. All my contact information is in the show notes, including the Vision Board Workshop and the free 30-minute consultation calendar link. I can't wait to see the vision you discover and share with the world as an unconventional leader. Because you can lead at every level in any area using your unique gifts. Until next time. If you're curious what it would be like to work more closely with me, or to step up as an unconventional leader yourself, schedule a free discovery session and look at. But maybe you're an entrepreneur looking for a support team. I'd like to personally invite you into my collaborative community, Launch from the Beach. It could be just what you're looking for. All of my contact information and all the links are included in the show notes. And don't forget, you can always connect with other intentional optimists in our Facebook community. You can follow my Facebook or Instagram page, or even connect with me on LinkedIn. Additionally, I invite you to subscribe to my newsletter, Optimistic Living. It's good stuff delivered straight to your inbox on a not so strict schedule, but always from the heart. Remember, unconventional leaders lead at every level, in any area, using their unique gifts. And you, my friend, are a leader. You are the future of leadership and the role models for future generations. Until next time.
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