Visionary Mind Shifts^{TM
(previously Power To Stand: A Course In Greatness)
Written by Michael Skye for the Vision Force Academy}

Warning:  Each Visionary Mind Shift may be easy enough to grasp at a glance, yet each is a puzzle piece in a larger puzzle called the Vision Force Matrix.  The more you integrate this shift with the other shifts, the more the matrix will begin to emerge.  Your understanding of the distinctions and the matrix itself will evolve as you move through the course.  To speed that evolution, do your best to view each word and distinction as something new, a mystery, rather than by relating it to what you already know.

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Visionary Distinction:

Compromise  |  Sacrifice

Introduction: 

This is an invaluable distinction for the new revolutionary, the visionary, who is not focused on fighting over scarce resources, but looking to create the world she envisions.

Orientation:

Compromise - 1. Giving up something important to gain something of higher value, yet feeling like you lost.  2. Choosing between two values in a way that wounds your spirit, drains your power and limits your vision.  3.  Choosing from guilt, from fear or from a position.

Sacrifice - Giving up something important to gain something of higher value, and feeling like you won.  2. Choosing between two values in a way that breathes life into your spirit, builds your power and expands your vision.  3.  Choosing from honor, from vision or from a stand.

Example

Greg, an American businessman, was repeatedly asked by his friend, Robyn, to donate money to her cause of helping to educate children in third world countries.

When he would say no, he'd feel a sense of guilt, and then mask it with excuses that helped him feel better.  "I'm building a business and providing jobs to people," he'd tell himself.

When he would say yes, he'd feel a sense of guilt or self-betrayal for spending money that he really wanted to invest in his business.  "She's my friend," he'd tell himself.

Greg's modus operandi was compromise.  When he faced conflicts between his values, he'd compromise one way or another.  He'd been taught all his life that you have to compromise in relationships.  Compromise was preached as the way to succeed in marriage, politics and business relationships.

Yet, over time, Greg came to know himself on a subconscious level as a compromiser and a coward.  Every time there was a threat to his values or his vision, he'd compromise his values and his vision.  He'd never learned any other way.

Then one day, Greg registered himself in a high-level training event for visionaries.  Inside that event, he came face to face with the compromises he'd been making all his life.  He became present to the sense of quiet desperation he'd come to feel in life, the subtle suffering.  At that event he took a stand for himself, his values and his vision.  It was a simple, yet powerful action that had the affect of reawakening him to life.

At that event he came to know himself as he never had before, as he'd always wanted to know himself.  For the first time in his life, he knew himself at a deep level, not as one who compromises in the face of conflict, but as one who stands.

And from the stands he began taking in his life, he came to see a vision worthy of his life, a vision that called him to continually stand from then on, day in and day out, for what was most important to him.

Compromise became the way of the past.

When Robyn approached Greg for money after his visionary training, she witnessed a new man.  When he said, "No," this time, he did it from a stand for his values and his vision.  He said no in order to say yes to his business' mission.  His sense of honor was palpable and inspiring.

He sacrificed his value of contribution and what his friend thought of him for something greater in that moment: his business, his vision, his commitment to people in his life, etc.

Later, when Robyn approached Greg about a donating to a project that deeply inspired him, he said yes.  Again, he said yes from a place of power.  Robyn experienced Greg's contribution as a true gift, a conscious choice that was honoring his value of contribution. 

He sacrificed what he could have spent that money for a greater value to him in that moment: making a difference and supporting his friend.

Greg no longer compromised his soul, his spirit, his power or his vision when making choices.  Sure, he would make the same choices, but he experienced his choices differently, in a way that did not compromise his spirit, his power, his honor or his vision.  Instead he learned how sacrifice could honor his spirit, build his power and further his vision.

Greg's growing power as a visionary who refused to compromise was evident to everyone in his life.  They came to watch him, revere him and take note of what he was committed to.  The way he lived his life, true to his values and his vision, inspired those around him to do the same.

Related Visionary Distinctions:

Compromise vs. Creation
Assuming Compromise vs. Creating Creation
Guilt Avoidance vs. Honor Creation
Selfish Position vs. Selfless Position vs. Self As Stand

Looking Closer: 

In reaction to a world that pulls on us from all directions, we learn to consciously form a safe "position" for psychological protection.  Throughout our life, people seek to get us to follow their values, and judge us when we don't.  So we form a position from which we're protected from their judgments.  For example, Greg could have formed a position that included a judgment about Robyn or people like Robyn.  From that position, he wouldn't have had to take her seriously.

Greg, however, prided himself in being a good, honest man who consciously tried not to live in judgment of others.  He'd learned all his life that you shouldn't judge, and you should compromise.  Yet his policy of compromise little by little left him more and more powerless to achieve his values and his vision.  Greg at first was "good," yet his spirit suffered, because he fell short of greatness.

When Greg put himself through a high-level visionary training program, he learned that his greatest natural value was his vision force, or his conscious power to be continuously guided by his own vision, one that continually called him to greatness.  His vision force was the value that gave him the power and strength to be true to all of his other values and to his vision.  When he made compromise choices, his vision force was compromised.
 

Visionary Advantage: 

Visionaries have the power to create a new world, a new reality--not by any fantastical means, but by natural, practical means.  Creating the world you envision is not a matter of compromising; it's not a matter of selling your soul.  In fact, simple strategies for being, thinking, acting and as a visionary--strategies that do not include compromise--gives you untold power.

Visionary Quote: 

"Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark.... Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach.  Check your road and the nature of your battle.  The world you desired can be won.  It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours."  -Ayn Rand
 

Visionary Challenge:

Where does compromise show up in your life?  In what circumstances do you feel compromise is necessary or justified?  Are you open to looking for methods of resolving inner and outer conflicts that do not involve compromise?  If so, maybe you are ready to be one of the great visionaries this world so desperately needs.  You could be "the one" to take a stand and recreate your family, your community, your company, your country or humanity itself.

Meet other visionaries and discuss how to integrate this distinction into your life on the Forum Boards.

Visionary Training:

The concepts in this course are powerful.  But they are nothing like the experience waiting for you here:  

Vision Force Boot Camp: The iStand Experience (TM)  (LIVE Training Event for Visionaries)
 

Additional Resources:
 

Download your Visionary Mind!

> The full 8-week program on Audio CDs, professionally recorded by Michael Skye. > 100 page, 3-ring binder Workbook, with comprehensive worksheets and assignments.  > 14+ hours of live recorded conference calls (MP3s) We give you the entire Vision Force 101 program (normally $397) on a digital CD--a perfect supplement to Visionary Mind.  Listen to participants do the exercises and learn from their insights. > Access to private on-line member area, where you can interact with other students for years to come.

 

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