I’ve always appreciated and revered people with vision. Those who can see what the rest of us can’t. It’s a gift (one part skill, another part magic) very few people are born with, and it’s hard to nurture it in someone who doesn’t already have it.

I (Nathan) do not have this gift. While in my college days, I envied those who could see what wasn’t there and bring it to fruition, and in time I learned that I had another role in this world. I’m a problem solver — notorious for being an ideas guy, sure, but my best trait is helping tweak, sharpen, or rethink visions that other’s had already seen.

Anna, on the other hand, well, she’s always had vision. It — among other things — is her superpower. We were house shopping towards the end of last year, and when we stepped into what would become our home, Anna had a vision: this foyer at Christmas time.

The reason vision is important to life is because most of the best things require patience to come to fruition. The best clothes wear, stretch, fade, and evolve over time, but if you can’t see what they can become, you may pass up soon-to-be-beautiful garments simply because they’re “not yet” what you want — the same goes for most high quality furniture as well!

This reality is in direct conflict with our cultural obsession with instant gratification, which means, in some form or another, the key to patience is having the vision to see what something can become eventually — to see it’s fulfilled potential before it’s ever truly visible. Side note: this explains in many ways why Anna is one of the best people I’ve ever met at being able to delay gratification in many aspects of life, while I’m very much a “wear the shoes out of the store” person by nature.

By seeing what isn’t there (yet), you create a natural, internal motivation to work towards that goal. This is the exact reason why so many people create mood boards, vision boards, and journals to fuel their fire. To envision something is to understand it better, and understanding it is the key to achieving it some day — this, in many ways, is how the concept of manifesting works!

You may be reading this and thinking: that’s great, Nate, but I’m not one of those “vision people”. I don’t have it, and it’s really difficult for me to envision and then piece together a space, much less an entire house! I hear you, and I’m with you. Like I said, vision is not my forte — thus, neither is patience. Still, with practice, I’ve gotten better at both. That said, I’ve learned in my own life that the key to vision for people who don’t have it is to act first and envision later.

We are often fooled into thinking inspiration will inspire action, when often the exact opposite is true — especially for those of us who struggle to see what isn’t there. If you have a spark of an idea or vision, that’s enough! Take a step towards it, walk around a space you want to change, put things on a wall you want to fill, try on clothes you’re afraid to experiment with, or do some half-assed internet research during your morning coffee.

You’ll be surprised how much power comes from simply knowing 1% more than you did before about something!

From there, it’s just about rolling that snowball down the hill, every day. If you have the vision, if even just part of one, the world would be a better place if you see it through!