Ep57_ExecutingVision
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Adam Gragg: [00:00:00] I had this opportunity to go and speak to a company recently about creating a vision and executing on a vision. And in the process, everyone, it was a full, pretty much full day workshop. Everyone created a vision board, something with visuals on it that they could look at and reflect on and have in their office or in their home.

That helps 'em to remember where they want to be in a. I remember that in my basement where I had my office, my old house, I had three vision boards and one was personal, one was professional, and the other one was kind of a combination other areas of my life as well. And on one of the vision boards, I had an rv and I always want and had this dream of going on this RV adventure and just thinking about this.

I went on that RV adventure, you know, that was eight years ago when I had that up on there. And me and my daughter went on that and went to Utah and went to Colorado. A bunch of national parks, had a great time. Did it for two weeks over the summer, two years ago. A vision can transform your life, and that's what I'm gonna talk to you about today is how do you set and establish a vision, and then how do you move towards that vision?

[00:01:00] So I wanna welcome you to decide your legacy podcast. This is episode number 57. I'm your host, Adam Gragg. If you haven't already done so, give me a like rating review. Apple, Spotify, whoever get your podcast content, take out your phones, takes 15 seconds to do so, helps it reach more people organically and it helps podcasts to grow.

Which it has been significantly. I am also. As I do in every episode, you're gonna share a couple risks that I've taken recently. So one kind of simple, but yay. I tried out a new smoothie recipe on my daughter that was a risk. Okay? She liked it. It was a peach smoothie anyway, and I also allowed my daughter to drive me around town a lot more than normal.

And because she's getting ready to get her full license, and that was kind of scary and I've tried to give her lots of practice and everything, but that's kind of a risk to get in the car with Emerson. Don't let her listen to this. But here, the big risk I took is I actually bought tickets to go to Italy.

With her this summer as her 16th birthday present, so she turned [00:02:00] 16 in I think nine days. It's gonna be a big surprise. We're gonna go into four different locations and meet my sister and her husband, who's Italian there and everything. So I'm Adam Gragg. I'm a legacy coach, speaker, podcaster, and mental health professional.

For almost 25 years started in 19 98, 19 99. My purpose in life is helping people and organizations find transformational clarity that propels 'em forward to face their biggest fears, usually emotional fears, so they can live and leave their desired legacy. And so just so you know, in the show notes, it's gonna say, subscribe to my new course.

Okay. So it's called Shatterproof Yourself Light, and it's seven steps to creating a foundation for building your legacy, for building and living your legacy. And so you don't wanna miss that. You know, it's not very long. It's brief, it's light, but it's gonna give you some great valuable information.

There's a workbook that goes, Something that you can start to utilize to create a foundation to build your legacy. It's the stuff I go over with my clients, it's gonna be extraordinarily helpful. You do not [00:03:00] wanna miss that. And so as I talk in every episode, I like to discuss things that you could talk to your six year old about and they're gonna actually understand, so basic concepts that you can describe to them and they're gonna understand just like last.

Podcast. It was on journaling and the benefits of journaling. It brings you clarity, it gives you insight, it shows you what you're worried about and what lies you're believing A six year old can understand that kind of stuff. I also talk about things, I struggle with myself, so I struggle with focusing on a vision and looking at my vision board and looking at my goals and staying on track.

And so it's a great time of year, January to be doing this kind of activity. Great during any time of year, but this is one of those times where we can sometimes have more time to step back and we've can reflect on 2022. Maybe you did a mini retreat, maybe you actually listened to that podcast that I did.

I think it was number 54, and you can create a vision for your next year. So where do you truly want to be when you are at the very end of year of. December 20, December 31st, 2023 [00:04:00] in each part of your life, so spiritual, family, fun, health, social, business, financial, where do you want to be? If everything went really well, ideally in each of those areas of your life.

I want you right now, wherever you're at, to think about one of those areas I've just mentioned. And then imagine close your eyes if you're not driving and, you know, leave your eyes open if you are driving, and then you can just jot something down or speak into your phone. Where do you wanna be in one of those categories?

At the very end of the year, if everything went according to plan, ideally. According to plan. So you're really dreaming big here realistically, but ideally, so where would you be financially? Maybe you would have a certain amount of money saved. Maybe you would be at a certain weight. Maybe you would have a certain number of social relationships that you don't have now.

Maybe you'd be dating somebody. Maybe you would actually be a. Starting that business you've been dreaming about and be doing it full-time at the end of the year, I want you to focus and think about one of those things because a vision board is gonna be a representation of where you want to actually be.

So what I had them do [00:05:00] at this workshop was get magazines and print quotes and get pictures and bring pictures and have all kinds of information that they could put and pin up on this board. And then, In fact, I talked to one of the people at the company today and what they did, cuz that training was like a couple weeks ago, a week and a half ago, and they actually had in small groups described each image on the vision board and it was really emotional and moving and motivating to actually do that.

A vision will keep you focused on the right things. A vision will keep you focused and heading in the right direction. Whatever I focus on the most, I amplify as I talk about this subject today. Listen, as a teacher, not just as a student, and think about one thing as you go, or multiple things as you go, that you can teach to somebody else by the end of the day tomorrow.

So in the next 24 hours, you're gonna teach it to someone else. It's gonna stick, just like journaling makes it stick. When you write something down, it makes it stick. More. Teaching something to somebody makes it stick. So the benefits of having a vision is that you don't waste time. It gives you motivation.

You're energized. You know the [00:06:00] cost is, you do waste time, you focus on the wrong things. You get at the end of your life and you say, I didn't live the life I wanted to live. Which is one of the biggest top regrets of the dying. You know, I didn't live the life I wanted. I lived the life someone else wanted for me.

But what I want for you as you decide your legacy is to live the life that you want, which is not gonna be selfish. It's gonna be altruistic, it's gonna be about giving back. It always is. Unless you're a sociopath, which you're not, or you wouldn't be listening to this podcast, I guarantee it, unless you wanted to kill me, then you might be listening to it to find out where I live.

But I know. It's gonna be altruistic, and that vision is just something you have to take time to clarify and step back and get the clarity needed. It's going to enhance your focus. It's gonna give you a sense of purpose every day. You're gonna end up at the end of the day as you're moving towards your vision, feeling satisfied, feeling secure, and even loving yourself more because you're moving in the direction you know that you were and have.

Been created to move in. It's a tool. It's a great tool. It's not the only tool, but it [00:07:00] is an excellent tool creating and clarifying a vision and then executing on that vision. And you know the reason this might not work for you, I will tell you, cuz there's a lot of objections I get from people and they say, well, it's silly.

It's kinda like journaling. You know, it's silly, it's not gonna work. I've tried it before, whatever. Well, I will almost guarantee you that one reason it will not work for you is if you don't. A consistent reflection upon it. It's not something that, it's gotta be something that you're gonna look at consistently and reflect on consistently and refine.

It's not perfect, it's a seven, but you're gonna add pictures, you're gonna clarify, you're gonna minimize, you're gonna eliminate, you're gonna, it's gonna be a process. It's gonna be a process that you go through. And the process is really where the joy is found in life. It's not actually at the end where you make it to the destination and you start this business and make millions of dollars a year.

The joy is found in the actual process of creating. This vision or creating this business or going on this hike? Went on a hike with my buddy Allen and we went to the top of Half Dome and I look back on that and I think I got great pictures from the top of Half Dome. It was [00:08:00] wonderful. But the hike up, talking to him and reflecting and the hike down.

Reflecting and thinking and everything, the process and walking by waterfalls, it's a beautiful trail. You had all these different experiences. You saw people, you talked to people, you wore your feet out. But it was a wonderful experience because of the process. Cuz we're looking and thinking, okay, we gotta get to this specific destination that I'm actually gonna be happy.

But the happiest people in the world are always ones who are enjoying the ride. They're not worried about the destination nearly as much, and then the risk and the fear and everything comes out of it. They can see the destination begin with the end in mind, which a vision board is beginning with the end in mind, but the process of getting where there is where the joy is found.

So let's talk about four steps that you can take, that you must take, I believe you truly must take in order to clarify a vision. So one step one is you have to create a foundation, and the foundation is going to be healthy thinking, emotional health, relational health. It's gonna be having a good sense of self worth loving yourself.

And I have podcasts on all these topics. In fact, all these topics are covered in my [00:09:00] new free course. If you subscribe, shatterproof Yourself. Light Seven Steps to Creating a Foundation, and it's gonna be discussed in much, much more detailed in this podcast. You have to create the foundation. It's the beans in my coffee metaphor.

So beans are a foundational thing. You can't get a good cup of coffee without fresh beans, and you create a. . And so you're gonna take out the grinds and you're gonna be left with the good stuff, the goals, the mission, the motivation, the inspiration, the good stuff at the very end. So you start with creating a foundation.

So do you need to do some work on your own self-worth? Do you need to figure out what you like about yourself and do some reflection on that? Do you need to start doing the daily five and five where you're more positive? Because it's much easier to be negative than it is positive. It. Like Velcro when positivity sticks, like Teflon takes 14 seconds versus two.

Do you need to do some work in having healthier relationships? And you don't have to have perfection there, but if you don't create that foundation mentally, like no one makes great decisions when they're depressed and anxious and afraid. And so you may have to start with dealing with those fears. [00:10:00] that you have cuz you're anxious, depressed, or afraid.

And then that's gonna lead you to creating this right vision. This good vision. And in the workshop I gave them some worksheets, and some of them I've referenced before. I have this be truth oriented worksheet where they identify lies, they believe, how it's impacting their life, how they're acting, because they believe this, what the worst outcome could be.

What it's costing them to believe this, how it's benefiting them to believe this, and then what a healthier perspective would be and then what new actions they could take. But they have to identify those damaging, limiting, damaging core beliefs first. And that's a foundational practice. It's when I take all my clients through.

in depth and it's when I have them focus on consistently, cuz those are always going to be there. Cuz a lot of times they're based on trauma, so they raise their head, especially in stress, especially when our sympathetic nervous system is activated. That's when we have these negative core beliefs that damage us come up the most, like war one.

For me, when I'm under stressed, I get very perfectionistic. I gotta deal with that. In order to create a vision, I gotta deal with my perfectionism and find ways [00:11:00] to get out of that into a healthier mindset before I can really clearly. and clearly create. and clearly have this inspiration from within intuition, not this information from without.

People don't decide their legacy when it's all information. It's from other people, them pushing things onto them. You should be an attorney. You should be an accountant. So they go and they study accounting, you know, and they're not doing what they want to do. They're not living the life that has been made for them.

The God ordained life and they're just living this other life, you don't have to say God ordained, but you can just say, The life you were created, the life made for you. So the life the universe has for you, I don't care what you call it, but it's something within that you know is your purpose.

And as you know is the direction you want ahead. But you gotta get the foundation clarified. And I certainly would recommend the daily five and five listing five things you're grateful for in the morning, and then five things you're excited about later in that day. I would certainly recommend identifying damaging core beliefs, learning how to replace them and take actions in the [00:12:00] face of them.

I would certainly recommend you get my online. Absolutely. And the next step number two is to write something down. So you have a base foundation and now you get to this brainstorming stage where you just write something down, you write some thoughts down, and you begin with the end in mind. So a lot of times what I'll do is have people do a brief vision meditation, and so I'll have them shut their eyes.

And in fact, you can do this right now if you really want to. So you close your eyes and you just imagine. While you're taking some deep breaths, which is gonna be a four second in breath and a six second out breath. So you're gonna like, you're blowing through a straw on the out breath, but you're gonna imagine and see whatever comes up your life at the end of 2023, December 31st, or December 25th, or whenever you achieve this vision, what it's like, and you've achieved it and you've made progress in these ideal.

This ideal level of progress and whatever comes up for you, maybe you picture yourself as you close your eyes [00:13:00] and you can do this on your own or later, listen to this podcast, pause it and do it when you get home if you want. I don't care. But you're gonna start thinking about what this vision might be.

So if I was doing this in a workshop, I'd have you do this for about 10 minutes. and identify whatever comes up and people have things that rise to the surface. This is really what I want. I'm not living the life that I really want. I'm living the life for somebody else to please my mom, to please my dad, to please my dead grandfather to please society.

I don't know because whatever it is, you have all these inputs that are coming at you all the time. Propaganda news. You know, I don't listen to the news. Honestly. I don't watch the news. That's just something that's gonna be a downer for me. I read certain specific news sources that I feel are like neutral, but I don't do it for more than 10 minutes a day.

I'm very careful and I feel like I'm informed because other people talk to me and share, but it's not a great positivity kind of building thing in my life. And I've just realized that over the years that I gotta very much minimize that. And, but I do feel greatly informed. So you write something down.

And so if you had a worksheet, and I'm gonna link [00:14:00] to a worksheet here, actually, it's creating a one year. worksheet, and you're just gonna jot bullet points, whatever it is, whatever you want. Whatever you want right there. So I actually heard about a study that was done, and I don't have all the data on this, and I heard about it in another podcast.

I really trust the source. But basically what they were saying in what the speaker said is that this was done. with people in prison and in the last year of prison, before getting outta prison, they were assigned an activity and guided through with somebody, I guess a prison guard or a mentor or somebody, but basically they did four different things.

One was they wrote down a vision for their life, ideally over the next year, or actually it may have been three to five years, but the three to five year vision for their life. And they just did bullet points in their health category, in their financial and relational, did bullet points. And then they journaled about it for 15 minutes, 10 or 15 minutes.

And then, and I believe I heard this from Jordan Peterson actually. So then they actually journaled [00:15:00] about what their life would be like. In 10, in three to five years. If they just give in to idiosyncrasies and bad habits and all these things that are, they know are not necessarily good for them. Maybe they got into prison because they were a drug addict.

Maybe they, and it may not have been on that podcast. I'm not exactly sure, but anyway, then they had the fourth step. Because, so they basically journal what their life would be like if they made a bunch of bad decisions. So I'm sure it would be, I'll end up back in prison I'll, be a drug addict.

I'll be estranged from my kids. I'll be dead. Who knows? People usually know at a gut level if they keep doing some of the bad stuff they're doing, where they're gonna end up. They generally know, cuz your intuition will tell you, your conscience will tell you if you're trying to get in touch with yourself, which is what we're talking about here, is getting in touch with the real you

people call this different things. You can call it your soul, you can call it your spirit. You can call it intuitive, inner wisdom, inner truth. You got something there, it's gonna tell you and lead you in the right direction. But the fourth activity was to create some steps to getting towards that vision.

So it's basically you're doing an a vision, then an anti vision, [00:16:00] and then you're creating some steps. And then I'm not sure if they had follow up on it, but I'm sure they did have some follow. Reflection time with that. And then in this one study that was cited, the recidivism rate decreased significantly by doing a vision type activity.

And I may be mixing up multiple podcasts here, but the point is, is that vision can be significantly powerful. The third step is that you create a filter. You create filters to whittle or to take out the grinds from the coffee to leave you with a cup of coffee. So you create filters in your life, like having a life purpose statement, which I get all my clients to create.

They may fight me on this, but it's an explanation of their reason for existence. in a short phrase, maybe 10 to 15 words. So like I've shared with you at the beginning of every podcast, I tell you I share with the audience that my life purpose is helping people find transformational clarity to face their biggest fears and live and leave their desired legacy.

I know that, when I wake up, I think about that. It's on my mind. It's not tattooed on your on my body because I don't have any tattoos. But , if I got a tattoo, it may be that , [00:17:00] honestly, maybe that kind of tattoo, but you find ways to create filters. Your values become a. And so if you've identified your top three to six core values, behaviors that you wanna live according to, in order to live a complete full life, like for me, taking courage is a core value.

Intentionality is a core value. Hope is a core value. So if my vision and I look at my vision board, if it doesn't align with all those core values, then it's gonna be a great tool to eliminate certain things. So something on my vision board was. Was very much about me, like making tons of money or whatever.

And I look there and say, guys, that doesn't really align with my values. My values aren't really to make a ton of money. It's to help people. And some people find clarity and it's to help people have hope and have fun, and see their potential. And so I could eliminate things just based on that. So another filter is what energizes you and what drains you.

You think your vision should be something that energizes you and leads you towards more energy. And an energizer is something that after you do it, you feel energized. So I often. [00:18:00] Energize after I do a podcast, and that's an indication, that's a healthy thing for me. Sometimes I dread doing the actual podcast, but afterwards it's like, gosh, I got it done.

It was fun. It can help some people. Maybe it helps one person, so it becomes a filter. What are the things that energize me on that vision board and what does not energize me or on that vision worksheet? When you look at it, what energizes me? What doesn't? If it's a de, if it's a drainer on there and it doesn't filter through, then you scratch it off, which is a great way of setting goals.

and I do have a great, I do have a great tool for setting goals once you've established them. That's very similar to this as well. and then another filter is life balance. So you want to be living and doing, moving towards and executing a vision that aligns with life balance. So if you think about somebody in a three point stance on the football field. They're much more stable, they're much more difficult to push over. But sometimes in audiences, I'll have someone come up to the front and I'll have 'em stand with their legs together and I'll have another person come up to the front and I'll have 'em stand with their legs apart and squatted down.

And [00:19:00] then I'll show the audience how easy it is to push over the guy that's standing straight with his leg straight. And the how hard it is to push the guy and push over the gal or whoever is up. Up on stage with me because they have a foundation. And that really applies to number one, step one, creating a foundation.

But it also applies to the filter aspect because if you're moving towards a vision that's not really representing all seven areas of your life and neglecting one or two, like it's neglecting your health or it's taking all your energy away from your family to invest in your business, and that can be a way to eliminate that part of your vision.

It's not aligned with your with life balance, not leading you towards life balance. So core values, you identify your life purpose, you identify your energizers and drainers, and then the fourth step, which is not gonna surprise you, is you take some action. So you look at that vision board and you execute in some way because action is what gives you evidence that this is possible.

Even if you don't succeed [00:20:00] the first time that you get in the game and try to move towards that vision, and that vision is gonna be something that's gonna help you to create one month goals, three month goals, six month goals, one week goals, things or objectives if you wanna call 'em. This is my objective for the day.

One daily objective. Is it moving me towards my vision or away from my vision? Is it moving me towards my goals or away from my goals? We find ways to actually do that. I know that a lot of people, like my, my dad is an interesting character. He's an entrepreneur. in his office. He used to have, he was, he would have commission checks posted on the wall of commissions that he had made, and they were big checks, and he was the kind of guy that went from like middle class, lower middle class to being.

Successful and it was, it was gradual. Cause no one's an overnight thing. It was like a 10 year process. But once he got there, it was some significant success in his career. And he'd have these checks as motivating factors. They were part of his vision. I mean, he was motivated by that in a different [00:21:00] way than I actually am.

And he also had pictures of his family and people do that. They have pictures of their family in their office and they have pictures of hobbies in their office. Their. Sports team or a football they have signed by their favorite athlete or something like that. But those are all vision objects as well.

And they're all filters as well. If it doesn't align, then it doesn't align, but you're taking some action. And I would notice my dad would be one of those guys that if it was scary, he would identify that it was scary and he would still do it. And he would tell me growing up, he would say that his favorite part of real estate was cold calling.

And I think he was kind of lying, but it was this inspirational talk to me that do the scariest. First, you know, do that one thing you're afraid of and there's gonna be some success out of that. And he did do cold calling and he still will say that was his, and he still is in the profession even, and he's 83 years old.

But that one scary, fearful thing, like meeting somebody new, asking somebody out, telling somebody, no [00:22:00] standing up for yourself. Those are the actions we have to take that lead us towards our. I've heard it described as creating a string of pearls and even described, I watched this documentary about this psychologist called Stutz, and it was interesting how he has this model.

You create a string of pearls where each pearl, it represents moving in the right direction, but within each pearl there's a turd. And the turd is that we have failure and we have. Things that don't go well and we have things that we wish would've been different and we make them mistakes and we get rejected, but we're still creating this string of pearls in the process, cuz that's the process.

The joy is found in the process. The process is the action and the passion that you have is gonna keep you going. That's why if you have a clear life purpose statement, the obstacles are, the turds, as I mentioned, are not gonna be that big because you know where you want to. And you have that vision in mind and it's more important to you.

You're starting with why and why do you want these things on? The vision board is a great question to ask because I want to be an influence on my family because I want to impact the world because I [00:23:00] want to change people's lives. Cause I want people to see their potential because I want people to not live in fear and I want people to live in truth because as I've mentioned before, the only thing more powerful than fear is hope.

Is hope and faith. Hope and faith and within that is truth as well. And people don't want to hear the truth a lot of times because the truth means if you have to really look at something and deal with the truth, it often represents, I gotta change, I gotta do something scary. I needed to change some things in my life right now cuz this is really true.

And so it's easier to believe a lie than it is true. It's truth at times because the lies will keep us safe and comfortable. Perceive safety is what I'm talking about. That action's not gonna. in the realm of perceived safety, it's gonna feel terrifying. In fact, it's gonna feel like, as I've mentioned in a video before, opposite to emotion action, you do the opposite of what your emotion is telling you to do can be the exact right thing to do.

And I wanna link to that video in the show notes as well. You can check that out. It's about three minutes long. If you can't share your vision and describe [00:24:00] what's on the board with a six year old, it's not clear enough yet. You gotta put some more time into it, and that's the process. and you can do this 15 minutes at a time, and I would encourage you to share your vision with somebody else, your spouse, a friend, people, share your vision board, express what's on there, describe why it's there.

or your written vision, if that's your preference, that's great. That's fine. Where do you wanna be in a year? Where do you wanna be in three to five years? This could all be for three to five years. It's flexible, and then you have accountability associated with it, which I think is essential. And that would be the fifth step, which I was gonna tell you four steps.

But finding accountability means you're sharing it with somebody and they have the permission. They have your permission to ask you about it, even to have a consequence if you don't follow. , like I've told you before, I would pay my buddy Daniel 20 bucks if I didn't write a blog post every week. When I first started to decide your legacy 10 years ago, I want you to think on a scale one to 10, where's your excitement level [00:25:00] towards creating a vision?

Is it a 10? Is it an eight? Is it a nine? Is it a one? You'll see the purpose in it. Just write that down somewhere. And then I want you to write down how much of an impact it would have on your life. If you did have a vision like this, like I'm describing, and you looked at it on a daily basis, just for a couple minutes on a daily basis, what kind of an impact would that have?

Just write that down. Positive, give you some plus sign or a negative sign. Be honest. Come on. Be honest. You've never tried it before. It could be a neutral sign, but most likely it would be a plus sign if you're honest with yourself. So what insight did you gain from today? What was one or two of your biggest takeaways?

Teach that to somebody else today. Whatever resonated with you in the next 24 hours. Teach to somebody else. Remember my rule, Adams rule. 30% of transformational change is insight, you're gaining insight in division today. 70% is action. I think I've told you about that. Love to come speak to your team over Zoom or live on any of these topics.

And I wanna [00:26:00] put a link in the show notes too to a list of all the topics that I can discuss, me and my team with your team over Zoom or live and. Also remember to subscribe to Shatterproof Yourself, so make it your mission to live the life now that you wanna be remembered for 10 years after you're gone, you decide your legacy.

Nobody else. I appreciate you greatly and I'll see you next time.