The Day I Realized My Vision Was Too Small to Move Anything
How a pool party, an astronaut crew, and a $30 desk toy changed the questions I was asking.
As I write this, the Artemis II crew has launched and is over two-thirds of the way to their planned research orbit around the moon. Based on my wide array of interests, my social algorithms have curated a delightful space-inspired feed: incredible footage from independent photographers and videographers covering a launch for the first time; reporters from around the world moved to tears from the impact of seeing, hearing, and feeling the intensity of the liftoff; project teams hugging and celebrating after witnessing the results of their years of hard work. And I, livestreaming from the Midwest, somehow feel connected to them and the shared passion, emotion, and inspiration that fuels each one of them.
This incredible shared moment of humanity would be impossible without a vision larger than the sum of these people.
Vision activates growth, purpose, connection, camaraderie, agency, and movement.
But let’s rewind several years because it wasn’t always that way for me.
Reclining on a sunlounger beside a pool in July is not the place you would expect to feel like you’re drowning. I might as well have been reclining under a waterboarding spigot based on how I felt. As I attempted to chill, waving flies away from my burger, my brain continued to spin out of control. Looking back, I had been mentally stuck between freeze and flight mode for months with no clear way forward. Even at a relaxing pool party, I was unsure how to swim against the undertow in my mind. I knew I couldn’t continue much longer.
Another guest happened to be an executive coach. Though we were acquaintances, we hadn’t visited in depth. As the afternoon unfolded, I remember feeling like the questions they asked and the things they talked about seemed to come from a completely different reality, one that seemed grounded, intentional, and positive. Internally, I did not feel grounded, intentional, or positive. I also remember thinking “It sounds too good to be true. Surely it can’t really be that way?” as they described their life and work. Considering my mental state at the time, I really don’t remember many specifics from the rest of that day, except that as I carried coolers to the car, I also contained even more cognitive dissonance than I had walked in with.
But I also walked away with an intense desire to see if something — anything — could be different.
Does my current reality have to continue to be my reality?
What does it take to enter that reality?
Is it even possible for someone like me?
Within a few days, I began a coaching engagement. I had no idea how I would pay for it or what the journey entailed, but I knew I needed to do something, and this was something. Anything felt hopeful at the time.
The first meeting started with a question: “What’s your vision?”
I DON’T KNOW. I need to fix these problems instead.
“Ok, what does fixing these problems move you closer toward?”
I don’t care, because I’m stuck in these problems.
“Well, what do you dream about for your future?”
Dude. It doesn’t matter because I’m stuck here and I can’t seem to move.
In my frustration, but in my quest to be The Perfect Client™, I reluctantly filled out the vision worksheet. It was difficult to go on a vision quest given my reality at the time, but a personal dream that seemed far outside the realm of possibility was owning a Tesla Model Y. So of course, that made my list of dreams.
The next exercise involved acquiring a small reminder of my vision to keep it part of my daily routine. I found a desk-sized phone charger shaped like a Tesla Supercharger.
Lest you think coaching is all about defining dreams and wishes and learning to manifest them, it’s not. The rest of my coaching journey challenged my mindset and beliefs, resulting in an expansion and deepening of my identity. I learned to explore what could be possible outside the constraints of anything that had been possible in the past.
I learned to build systems around me to support focused growth. As Adam Grant writes in Hidden Potential, “Scaffolding unleashes hidden potential by helping us forge paths we couldn’t otherwise see. It enables us to find motivation in the daily grind, gain momentum in the face of stagnation, and turn difficulties and doubts into sources of strength.” The scaffolding of consistent coaching unlocked countless opportunities for me to learn, dream, and grow, over and over.
Exactly one year later to the month, I opened my phone and pressed the Confirm button on my order. I now had a date to pick up my new Tesla Model Y.
One year prior, I would have told you it was 99.999% impossible that that dream could become reality so soon. I knew this to be true because it had always been true.
Except that “truth” was not a truth per se. It was entirely a figment of my imagination, powered by my mindset and beliefs at the time.
As I drove away from the delivery appointment, I had a new problem to solve: my vision was too small. If I had accomplished something impossible in a year, what could I do over the next year or two or ten?
Vision establishes direction and creates the tension necessary to move toward it.
As I’ve written about the self-imposed limits that learned expertise create for you, a powerful vision enables you to see and plan beyond everything you once thought possible.
You can start with any vision, but you gain to grow so much more by expanding your vision beyond what you can accomplish on your own. This is why watching the response to the Artemis II mission is so inspiring. The mission is simply not possible with a single person. Not even the combined crew of four highly-trained and expertly-skilled astronauts could accomplish it on their own. The vision requires full engagement from thousands of people who believe in linking arms and asking: What am I capable of? What are we capable of?
My questions for you:
Is your vision large enough to create movement?
Who do you need to become to explore all you could be capable of?
I believe that businesses, communities, and societies are better when empowered leaders take action in the things that are important to them. This is what I call Radical Agency: having the audacity to create a vision you believe in AND TAKING THE STEPS to move toward it.
As an executive coach, I help high-performing experts become the leader their vision requires.
Your vision is either creating movement or it isn’t. If it isn’t, that’s worth a conversation.
Let’s chat about your big vision →
Aaron Ott is an executive coach who helps leaders promoted for expertise become the leader the role actually requires. He spent 19 years navigating the expert-to-leader transition in the non-profit and for-profit spaces. His coaching practice is built on one belief: you’re not stuck and you’re not a fraud — you’re in the most important career transition nobody prepared you for. He lives in Omaha, Nebraska with his wife, Sarah, who is a non-profit operations leader, author, and writing coach. All terrible trademarks are relics of my past expert-based identity. This article is 100% human created. AI-created content variants may help publicize this piece.