Think Your Vision is Too Small? These 7 Truths Will Change Your Mind.

Think Your Vision is Too Small?
These 7 Truths Will Change Your Mind.

Warwick Fairfax

October 24, 2023

Sometimes after a crucible — a devastating setback or failure that fundamentally alters the course of our lives — we struggle to find a way forward. We find it challenging to find a vision worthwhile to devote our lives to. Even if we do find such a vision, there is often a tendency to think that our vision is pretty small. How much difference can our vision make in the world? There are so many problems that exist, and what we are planning on doing we might think may not make a lot of difference to those problems. Besides, we know people or we have heard of people making huge differences in the world. We are so not them. So why bother? What difference is it all going to make?

I know the feeling well of thinking that my vision was not big enough and the thought that it would not make that much difference in the world.

I grew up in a large 150-year-old family media business in Australia. John Fairfax Ltd., my family’s company, owned newspapers, magazines, TV stations, and radio stations. It owned some of the major newspapers of our country; The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age in Melbourne and the Australian Financial Review. After my failed $2.25B takeover finally ended in 1990, the company went into bankruptcy and passed from family hands. My vision was to restore the company to the image of the founder, my great-great grandfather John Fairfax, and to see the company was being well managed. What I thought was a noble vision at the time, ended in 1990. How could I ever have a vision that I could live out that would remotely be on the same level as that? After all, I felt the vision I had for the family media company was something that could affect the nation of Australia. It did not feel like a small vision.

So how do we move forward in finding our vision and living it out, when we feel it is so small and perhaps, we are thinking to ourselves, “Why bother?”. Here are some thoughts on how to combat the feeling that our vision is not big enough:

1. It is not a competition.

It is not about how big someone else’s vision is. It might be a vision from someone you have read about, or what is almost worse, a vision of a friend of yours that makes you and your vision seem so small. We need to be satisfied with the vision that we have. Not that it matters, but most people with worthwhile visions who seek to uplift people and have some higher purpose — and that we might view as incredibly successful — would not look at our vision and think how small it is. They would celebrate what we are doing.

2. The key is what is on our heart.

The size of the vision should not be the focus. Our focus should be what we felt led to accomplish, the vision that is on our hearts. From my faith perspective, I look at the vision that I feel led to move forward with, the vision that I believe God has put on my heart. If you feel that your vision is your calling, that it comes from deep within you or from some higher purpose, that is not wrong. I would almost say it can’t be wrong.

3. One life changed is enough.

I would go so far as saying, even if only one person, one life was touched by our vision, that is enough. If all of us, would strive to have life affirming visions that seek to make a difference in the lives of others — one vision, one life at a time — the world would be powerfully impacted. One life changed is enough.  That is not to limit our visions, but to free us from this sense of obligation, and the sense of “why bother?” that is it is all too easy to have.

4. Link your vision to what you feel is important.

Part of avoiding the sense that we are playing small and that our vision is not big enough, is to link our vision to something we feel is important. For many of our guests on our podcast, Beyond The Crucible, they have found their visions coming out of the ashes of their crucible. They want to help others avoid what they have been through, or to help them come back from the devastating setbacks they have experienced. Their crucible has meaning. Some even see their crucible as a blessing, as it has given their life purpose. That kind of purpose driven vision, in this case, linked to your crucible, is not small.

5. Connect your vision to who you fundamentally are.

Connecting your vision to how you are fundamentally wired, to your gifts and talents, will help you feel you were made to carry out this vision. This vision is why you were put on this earth.

6. Free yourself from the sense of obligation.

Obligation is not a motivator, it is a demotivator. Don’t think in terms of what we feel we should do or what we ought to do. Think in terms of what we feel called to do, what we want to do in the depths of our soul.

7. Motivation is everything.

At Beyond The Crucible, we talk about how joy and fulfillment come from living a life of significance, a life on purpose dedicated to serving others. We need to make sure our vision is grounded in a purpose that will help others, a higher purpose; something that will make the world a better place. An altruistic, life affirming vision is never a small vision.  If our vision is focused on others, not on ourselves, that is always a big vision.

Back to my story. After my failed $2.25B takeover bid, I did struggle with the sense that any vision I could pursue, would inevitably pale into insignificance compared to the vision I had in Australia for the family media business. But gradually over time, my attitude changed.  I also let my vision evolve, and gradually freed myself from a sense of obligation.  I became a certified International Coach Federation (ICF) executive coach. I wrote a book, Crucible Leadership, Embrace Your Trials to Lead a Life of Significance, in part about my story, lessons learned and my journey back. I launched Beyond The Crucible, with its podcast Beyond The Crucible, blogs, social media posts and speaking events.

On some level, I may not be as prominent as I once was, and some might say my impact is less. But from my faith perspective, if I am living a vision in line with a higher purpose, a God given purpose from my perspective, that is not and cannot be a small vision.

I try to stay disciplined to the notion that if I am pursuing a vision I feel called to that seeks to serve others and fulfills in some way a higher purpose, it can’t be a small vision. I have friends, family and colleagues who support me in this, if ever I am tempted to go down the road of what the impact might have been with the family business or that my vision is not big enough.

Ultimately, if we are living a vision that we feel called to, that helps others and in some way fulfills a higher purpose, that we are passionate about and uses everything that we are, that is not a small vision. It is a big vision and it is enough.