vision has its price

(This was originally posted April 6, 2009. This is just the 1st half of that post. It resonates even stronger in my soul today.)

I feel very very lucky. I get to be mentored by so many amazing leaders, scholars, visionaries, and great men. Not in person on a weekly basis or anything. But I take full advantage of everything these men are putting out there (books, podcasts, blogs, conferences, etc...) I treat it as though they are mentoring me 1 on 1. I learn everything I can from what they are saying.

One of my favorite "mentors" is Andy Stanley. I'm going to talk much more about the book later, and I mainly want to just share some awesome quotes from a particular chapter... but let me at least say this = Throughout Andy's entire book - Visioneering - It was as though Andy was sitting with me in a coffee shop speaking every single word directly to me! Seriously. I don't know if a book has ever been as personal as this one. EVERY word was specifically for me. Amazing. Like Andy wrote it just for me. (of course I'm sure it has affected thousands this way, which is awesome...)

This stuff is all from Chapter 10 that I recently went back & jotted some notes from = Vision has its Price

This 1st thought hit me right off...
**“Any vision worth pursuing will demand sacrifice and risk. You will be called on to give up the actual good for the potential best. You will find it necessary to leave what is comfortable and familiar in order to embrace that which is uncomfortable and unfamiliar. And all the while, you will be haunted by the fear that this thing you are investing so much of yourself in may not work out at all.”
[This is so crazy because that spot is exactly where I’m at right now! exactly what I needed to hear!]

“Vision requires courage and confidence. It requires launching out as if you were absolutely assured of the outcome.” [Thanks for speaking this into me, Andy! I value it big time!]

“The difference between those with a burden for something and those who actually do something is not resources. It is a willingness to take risks and make sacrifices.
The people who make a difference in the world commit to what could be before they know where the money is coming from. Their vision is enough to cause them to jump in. Money usually follows vision. It rarely happens the other way around.”
*** [Man! that is what I'm talkin' about. I SOOOOO needed to hear that! I'm all in... This is some crazy valuable mentoring stuff!]

– Great Quote to keep in front of me!!! ** “Is this what I am going to do? Or is this one of those things that I am just going to talk about until I am forty or fifty years old?”
[That's what someone with a vision asked their team. I am freaking going to do this thing... it's not just something I'm gonna be talking about when I hit 40 or 50! It's gonna be reality!]



(again, this was just the 1st half of the post. stay tuned for the 2nd half of the repost tomorrow.)