T

he new President of Kenya (of course this is his second term) was at some point a hapless baby, just a day old. At that point, who would have known what he would have become? And at that young age that he is right now, believe me all is not ending with him being President. There is just so much he can do.

Think about it…

• Billy Graham was once a baby

• Jesus was a baby,

• Obama was a baby,

• Lincoln was a baby,

• You were once a baby,

• And your vision (if you have read part 1) is now a baby.

Several years ago in Kenya, a certain stray dog was nicknamed “Mkombozi”. That is Swahili for Savior. Reason? The dog picked up a newly born baby that had been dumped in the bush and trekked for some mile or two and delivered it at someone’s doorstep intact. Can you believe that? A stray DOG! But I digress.

Your vision, after knowing it is as vulnerable as that new born baby. You are the “Mkombozi” of that vision. Matter of fact, nobody else has that vision apart from you. Why? Because frankly, they do not have time because they too have theirs to nurture and carry. My point still needs to be stressed: Vision is vulnerable and it needs to be carried, nurtured, protected and taken care of until such a time that it can fend for itself.

I think the biggest mistake we make is to think that once you have vision, it will sort itself out. We think that the most difficult phase is “Knowing the Vision” and after that phase, we can live in autopilot. I agree that at times, “Knowing the vision” can really be a frustrating and prolonged phase, which ought not be so because of Life Coaches these days. But I contend that Knowing is just the beginning. It is like conception.

When a wife conceives, it is no guarantee that the baby will become a world changer. Make no mistake about it, every baby is destined to be a world changer…but that is not a function of the autopilot. That’s why parenting is the most rewarding, yet most noble tasks ever given to mankind. Challenge me if you can with that statement.

Now, vision needs parenting. So we have been discussing the 3 things that you need to do now that you know your vision. IN the previous post, we said that the very first thing that has to be done is to KNOW THE VISION. That was discussed amicably.

Second, OWN The Vision

Do not abort it. Do not throw it in the shrubs. In fact, right now it looks like a joke. It seems so massive that you cannot pull it off. It seems ugly. It seems like it is a monster that you cannot figure it out. Well, my friend, you do not need to figure everything out about your vision today or tomorrow or next year or even the next 5 years. You just need to know it for now but then go one step ahead and OWN it. You are the first person (technically) to behold this vision. There is no way that other people will get on board with this vision if they do not see the fervor, fire and passion that you have with it. In other words, when you speak of this vision, people get so inspired that they want to be enrolled with you to push it forward.

• That is what JF Kennedy did with his “man on the moon”.
• That is what MLK did with his “I have a dream”.
• That is what Mahatma Gandhi did with his “Satyagraha”.
• That is what Nelson Mandela did when he said, “It is an ideal for which, if needs be, I am prepared to die”.

No Separation

These people owned their vision. You cannot separate Mandela from the liberation of apartheid. In fact, without Mandela, we most definitely would be reading a totally different story about South Africa. Without Lincoln, the story of emancipation of slaves would be totally different.

They owned the vision these people. They could never be separated from it. So that must be the case with you and I. Once we have our vision known, we should live in such a way that everybody identifies us with that vision. The following are the things that you can do in order to own the vision.

1. Power Talk

There is so much that has been said about “affirmations”. Instead of saying, “I am rich, I am rich, I am rich…”, why not take some time and speak out your vision with authority as you look at yourself in the mirror? What do you have to lose? What do you have to gain? Let me illustrate. It says that in the beginning, the earth was formless and void and darkness was over the deep. It says that “the Spirit of God hovered” over the surface of the deep. Imagine that! The Spirit of God hovered yet NOTHING HAPPENED….until…there was a voice.

[ictt-tweet-inline]Drama follows voice, period.[/ictt-tweet-inline] IN other words, [ictt-tweet-inline]Your keeping quite about your vision is not helping you in the spiritual realm. [/ictt-tweet-inline]But when you open your mouth and start speaking into this world your vision, something somewhere in the unseen realm starts moving and connecting the dots. Now I am not saying that this will make your vision happen faster, I am just saying that this will help your vision start growing in the spiritual dimension…after all, all vision is spiritual! So open your mouth and speak it out.

2. Prayer

I have controversially stated (or better yet repeated what I read somewhere), that God is an illegal entity on earth. Seriously. And the guys refusing to believe God because something bad happened to the world could be wrong. Prayer is the means to which God’s legality on earth is effected. Now, it is a sorry thing to see the kind of prayers people are making. If you randomly asked people across the earth for a “Prayer request”, more than 80% of what will come out will NOT be related to vision. People are asking God for the now and now, the by and by. Cellphones, cars, houses, land, property.

That is OK. But this is The Entity that spoke and drama unfolded. Can’t He be entrusted with bigger prayer requests related to vision? How about Lawrence knocking on Heaven’s doors in earnest passionate prayer asking God for the effecting of his vision of building Life Signatures Universities across Africa? How about that for a prayer? But no, the man wants to earn enough money for that vision, so the best prayer he is making is for salary increment. Sad.

3. Research

In order to own your vision, you need to be an ardent learner. Like I said earlier, you do not have all the information related to your vision once you get reconnected to it…nor should you. IN fact, people disqualify themselves from their vision because seemingly, they are not knowledgeable enough. Wrong. Peter J. Daniels puts it this way:

“Theory is for the scholar but pragmatism is for the leader”

Knowledge about your vision can expand as you get bombarded with questions from all angels. That is the moment that you take time to read, research and create a Masters Degree out of your vision. How about that? You do that in such a way that if there was a go to person as far as your passion, vision and purpose are related, your name is up there amongst the top ten in your county, district, country, region, or the world.

4. Masterminds

I have written three major articles about masterminds. I believe that the hallmark of people who are passionate about their purpose or vision is that they get other like-minded people and they begin to converse about its possibilities. We mastermind almost daily, it’s just that we do not do so on matters related to vision and purpose. We do so on matters related to weddings, funerals, baby showers, bridal showers and so on. Not that these things are bad, but in the end, the quality of our life will not be determined by how many showers we took, but by how much “rain” we created in making the world a better place. Think about that.

5. Get Involved

The truth is that there could be some people who are already doing that which you are passionate about. The best thing that you could do is to get involved with them. How? Well, find out what skill, expertise, talent or gift that you have and see what need these people have that you can serve…probably for free. Why? You get to learn quite a lot on how not to do things, how to do things and you get an idea on how better you will do things when your time comes. Be strategic. That is why when I attend a John Maxwell Mastermind on Leadership for example, I am not just looking at gathering info and getting a certificate. No, I am looking at aping the man and create my own brand albeit with a different vision, but using his principles.

Finally, please note that this phase is not a day’s thing. Vision is for a life time. So in “Owning” your vision, this phase might take seasons, years or even decades. Now, let’s continue “Owning” our vision.