The Vision Spiral: Seeing, Sensing, and Shaping What’s Next

I’ve found that nothing of transformative value happens without vision. So I try to keep my own eyes open. Alert. Curious. Because meaningful transformation begins with seeing beyond what exists today. And that requires knowing yourself well enough to admit when your eyes might be … a little … closed. Why? Well, because maybe you’re a little tired. And I definitely know the feeling…

The Vision Equation

I’ve found that vision follows a precise formula:

VISION = Prediction (see the future)
+ Intuition (feel the future)
+ Realization (make the future)

I try to start with prediction — using my analytical abilities to extrapolate trends and anticipate what might come. Yet I know prediction alone creates only possibilities, not certainties.

I must also rely on my intuition — that unnerving sense that guides me beyond data points and rational analysis. This feeling component acknowledges that the future isn’t merely calculated; it’s sensed.

Finally, and perhaps most crucially, I know that any vision I may ahve demands realization — the capacity to manifest what is only imagined. Without this component, all visions remains merely dreams.

The Value of Being Wrong

24/7 peripheral vision matters more in a world where we can no longer see 20/20. When direct sight becomes unreliable — when “the way we’ve always done it” doesn’t work anymore — peripheral awareness becomes essential.

An expanded attention to one’s periphery inevitably leads to frequent course corrections and, sometimes, outright failures in one’s journey. I take comfort in knowing that serial visionaries are unusually comfortable when proven wrong because they’re confident that the next time, they just might be right. Being wrong is not a terminal state but a necessary waypoint on the journey toward breakthrough. Each failure refines peripheral vision, sharpens intuition, and ultimately improves the ability to realize what was predicted and felt.

Ready. Uh-oh. Restart.

The path of vision is not a straight line but a series of spirals — progress that is shaped by course corrections, unexpected detours, and sometimes a wisdom booster shot. Each twist reveals more of what we couldn’t see before. When we embrace this spiral, we stop waiting for the future to arrive — we begin actively shaping it. And in an era overwhelmed by uncertainty, the real advantage lies not in having all the answers, but in having open eyes, a ready heart, and the courage to begin again. And again. And again. And hope to get it right.

Because vision isn’t about seeing perfectly the first time. It’s about being perfectly willing to look at it anew again. —JM