Why Most People Fail: Lack of Vision
Posted by Orrin Woodward on December 4, 2014
I tweeted out a quote this morning that read: Winners learn from the past, live in the present, and lead into the future.
Failures, however, reject this advice. In fact, they follow an opposite path which ensures failure.
If I were to tweet out how to fail in life it would read: Failures replay the past, react in the present, and rationalize away the future.
If this quote is closer to your current mindset, the good news is – YOU can change it!
Now I am not promising it will be easy. Failure is a mindset that quickly becomes a habitual. Nonetheless, with disciplined mental and physical work, a failure mindset can be transformed into a winning one. I believe your future is worth changing for. Doing so will bless, not only your life, but also those you love.
Let’s unpack each step of the failure mindset.
First, failures do not learn from the past. Instead, they beat themselves (or others) up for their past mistakes. Replaying the past to blame or justify is a sure recipe for failure. Wearing a victim lens in life may reduce the short-term pain but only by ensuring longterm failure. In short, a person cannot learn from the past when he is playing the victim card.
Second, because failures don’t learn from the past, they often repeat it. Wisdom is the fruit enjoyed by those who accept personal responsibility for all of life’s outcomes. True, unfair things happen to everyone, but how a person responds is the key. Failures, because they do not seek wisdom, end up living reactively rather than proactively.
Finally, because failures constantly replay past mistakes and are reactive rather than proactive, they have little time to focus on the future. Of course, this ensures they will not effectively lead themselves nor others into a brighter future. Instead, failures rationalize away their futures on altars of past failures. How sad.
Fortunately, there is another plan.
Winners have a different mindset. It doesn’t matter what happened in the past because it is history. All that is left from the past are the lessons one can learn from them. It doesn’t matter how bad it is in the present because it’s just a function of reaping what you have sowed in the past. However (drum roll please), to truly change one’s life, it is absolutely essential to envision where one wants to go. For without a clear picture of the future life a person desires, he will not generate the internal motivation necessary to create real change.
Lead with Vision
Failures have to see it to believe it and thus never believe or do anything without seeing first. But this means they merely react to what is presented to them rather than pro-act to create something new. Winners, on the other hand, believe it, see it, and thus work like crazy to make what they “see” come true. That’s the SECRET! Successful people apply consistent effort to turn their mental dreams into physical realities.
Yes, winners work hard, but so do many failures. It’s important to understand that it’s not the work that separates the successful from the unsuccessful; it’s vision. More specifically, it’s a vision believed so deeply that it becomes a metaphysically reality. The physical work, then, is just investing the time to formally present externally what is already known internally.
Accordingly, the key question for all success is: are you disciplining your mind to see your future reality? I know, I know, the reader is probably thinking – but I don’t have time for that. Think through that statement for a second. A person who says he doesn’t have time to envision his future, is like a tourist who says he doesn’t have time to look at the local map. Although the tourist may save time in the short run, he ends up repeating many steps and loses out on many rewards in the long run. In a similar fashion, so too does the hard worker without vision.
I believe it’s time to learn from the past while living in the present, and leading (with massive vision) into the future? In fact, I believe this so strongly, I co-founded LIFE Leadership to help people live the life they’ve always wanted.
Sincerely,
35 Responses to “Why Most People Fail: Lack of Vision”
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Chad Waters said
Hi Orrin!
Yes I saw that on twitter and face book and I loved it! Reality is we just need to keep steering our ships in that direction. As we do everyone else seems so different! Well worth it though!
God bless!
Chad
Phil Mette said
Its been said that Coincidence is God’s way of staying anonymous. Was just talking with Dean this morning about this very topic and was wondering what you would have to say about it. Well – now we know 🙂 We must know where we are going. With even a clear cut vision of our futures, the work still needs done. Thanks for sharing your thoughts through so many avenues.
Scott Russell said
Awesome blog brother Orrin!!!!!!
Robby Palmer said
Orrin,
I feel like you’re reaching down to a whole new level. It could just be me and where I’m at, but I feel like you’re reaching deep into the memory banks, to remember what it was like to climb the ladder way down at the bottom, and I sincerely appreciate it.
My boss at work knows me full and well, he knows what I do outside at work, he asked me yesterday “on a scale of 1-10, what kind of leader is Orrin?” I didn’t hesitate to say 10!!!! I believe you’re number 1 in the world Orrin, because no matter how high you’ve climbed in influence, you reach further down to pick people up than anyone ever has!
This blog post is just proof of that.
Bill schmidt said
Great great message Big O! Love it , SOO true! Thank you for always putty things in perspective:)
Have a fantastic day!
Susan Peterson said
Thank you Orrin; brillant as always!! So proud & blessed to be a student in LIFE.
Mike Hartmann said
Excellent article! Truly excellent! Again, you’ve hit the nail squarely on the head. Thanks for sharing your insight.
Michael Votaw said
Thank you so much, this is really what I needed to hear today. I need to work on my vision so I can take the message to the world. My Pity Party is over and I need to get involved in the work!!!!
David Kangas said
Dear Orrin: The second to the last paragraph sums up Life Leadership to a tee! Thanks much!
Turhan & Carol Berne said
Thanks again for a very insightful article. I really appreciate that time you spend in presenting nuggets like this to the world.
Phil Wall said
Fantastic post! I love how you unpacked failure in 3 steps and at the same time broke out how to win.
Kristen Seidl said
Wow Orrin, perfect explanation of “problem identified” to “problem solved.” Thank you!
BraveheartMicah said
Well done Orrin. We all have teachable moments where we could easily fall back into failure mode…You said something once, about how frequently you perform “gap analysis” and this article lays that out so well…we have to check our thinking often, tell ourselves the empowering story and boldly LEAD into our future! Man, I’m so thankful for my new LIFE!
God Bless,
Micah
Mac Tapia said
Orrin,
Thank you for your wisdom transfer. I appreciate the vision share and the simplicity of the message. I believe that the vision you cast, has been caught by many people out there, including myself. Let us continue working toward a better world, one that many people imagine, one that fewer people work for, and one that WE create.
Chris Davis said
Nice
CJ Calvert said
Orrin, thanks for the incredible 10&5 call. I clearly see my contribution to going to 1 million people. I will go Double LIFE Coach, raise up ten LIFE Coaches and fill the Skydome in Toronto with over 10,000 people. I will help over 100 familes make over $100k/ year by reaching CAB Coordinator. I will be a New York Times Best-selling Author. I will continue to grow in my walk with Christ and be the husband and father I am called to be. I will make Shannon and Braydon’s dreams come true. I will help save 100 foster kids from their circumstances. I will contribute content to the Corporate LLR series that makes us the best-in-class choice for Fortune 500 companies when selecting a leadership development program, beating out Covey, Carnegie and Blanchard as the new standard of excellence. I will pay of my Mom’s mortgage, and take my dad to Miramar for a Top Gun jet fighter adventure. And, I will bring my Lamborghini Aventador to my high school reunion. It’s done.
Orrin Woodward said
CJ, that is simply AWESOME! I am excited for you! 🙂 God Bless, Orrin
Mark Paul said
Thanks for the reminders, Orrin. I liked when you said that you win in your mind long before it becomes reality. We look forward to traveling around the world, speaking to audiences about LIFE Leadership and helping many others enjoy the freedoms that truth can bring to their lives.
Mark
Orrin Woodward said
Mark, You are winning bigger “inside” and I can see the “outside” results are following. Keep cranking. Thanks, Orrin
Tiffani Chapa said
Thank you Orrin for casting the vision of MASSIVE VISION! I see it. Overcoming the mind battle is clearly a choice and we choose to win! I see us traveling speaking to thousands upon thousands, we’re just working on hard to fill the gaps!
Tiffani Chapa
Orrin Woodward said
Awesome Tiffani! I cannot wait for you and Aaron to be speaking all over the world! 🙂 God Bless, Orrin
curtis shaw said
10 and 5 Zoom today was awesome! Really helped me realize that I have been in constant battle between Winning and Failing mentally. Like you said “it’s all in your brain:)”.
Thanks for taking the time and delivering a what I believe will be a soon landmark talk.
Orrin Woodward said
Curtis, it’s time to end the civil war inside so you can win on the outside! Getter done! 🙂 thanks, Orrin
Rick Tillmann said
Orrin, 10/5 call this morning was as impactful as any Major Function. In twenty minutes flat, you expanded our capacity for a greater vision like I’ve never experienced before. Jim Rohn once said, “set a goal to become a millionaire. Not for the millions, but for what you must become to achieve it.”
My vision – LIFE Coach. I want to be on that plane with you, Orrin, pure and simple. Arriving at that place will mean I have been shattering my limiting beliefs and inspiring others to do the same.
Orrin, you have helped put “Possible” back into my life. Thank you!
Rick & Rosemary
Emmalee Morse said
Orrin,
Thank you for this reminder!
“Accordingly, the key question for all success is: are you disciplining your mind to see your future reality?”
I’ve sat down and made a list of desires but I’m realizing I’ve never truly defined the reality in which I have each of those desires. (How they will benefit myself, my family, or my community; the experiences that I will have once I have obtained them; the joy in achieving the lifestyle each of those rewards will bring) I definitely have some homework to truly harness the power of my dreams.
You’ve really brought a new lens into my life over the past few years. Thank you for helping all of us see and follow in your footsteps.
– Emmalee
Barry Quinn said
Thank you Orrin. God bless.
Renee Oettinger said
Thank you for being a visionary and leading so many to their goals and dreams
Jeff Darling said
Hey O!
Thanks for the great post & all the calls we have an opportunity to participate in. As you’ve always reminded me “it’s always a choice, success, failure, etc!” When we had our 1st true sit down together, you asked me to write out my DREAMS & PLANS over the next 5-10 years! I read that often, and realize it’s happening NOW. We are well into our JOURNEY & that house in Maine on 9 acres near the coast is in site and all the way to the VISION of flying in a private jet speaking around the world with you & Laurie (you’ve expanded that DREAM to a 15 seat Jet to include our new LIFE COACHES)!! You are constantly stretching me & my capacity is growing – WE SEE IT BIGGER THEN EVER! Never thought an International Biz would be a reality, but now realize we will be in every country that we open, and a huge impact will be made. We truly are Having Fun (A BLAST!), Making $$ (going to get ridiculous), and MAKING A DIFFERENCE (whether they grasp our opportunity or not)!
Thanks for offering an opportunity with “LIFE LEADERSHIP”, for ANYONE who chooses, to Live the Life They Always Wanted!
God Bless
JD
Steve Meixner said
Great post Orrin, So many times I have found myself thinking of past failures. The reminder to just set a Vision and strive forward is what it takes. I am going to work harder on this Visioning! Thank You again,
Steve
Lori Stewart said
This is great! Been handing out cd’s like crazy!! Makes you excited about life!!
Kailee Schlosser said
Wow!! Great stuff !!
John Mossner said
Great article! Thanks for being a wonderful example of having a vision of the future, and doing the work in the present to make that a reality.
Tyler schlosser said
What an amazing post!!!!!! That one will need to be reread and reread!! It’s just like hitting fastball at 90mph plus…it’s all in ur head and a civil war with urself!! Thank u Orrin for everything that u do!!
Kirk Birtles said
O, Thanks for the great article! Ive been preaching a version of this message to myself and to others across the Midwest for the last couple of months. You just have a great knack of taking the potentially complex and making it simple! ‘Winners learn from the past, live in the present and lead into the future’.
to a million…
kb
Maura Galliani said
Before joining this community I had no clue what it meant to have vision. Even though I may not have reached my goals yet, I certainly see this LIFE Leadership-exposed woman transforming her thinking from “failure” to “winner.” Thank you to all the many of you that have influenced my life for the good! 🙂