You Don’t Need Eyes to See, You Need Vision

While listening to music in my car, waiting for my shopping to be collected, I heard this quote and it made me think about what happens in coaching and why coaching can be so powerful.

“You don’t need eyes to see, you need vision”

Maxi Jazz, Faithless

In general terms, most people have the knowledge and skill to make changes in their lives; people can create new habits that are either helpful or a hindrance to their future. Let’s use smartphones as an example. The majority of people are aware of the algorithms that run social media and that they are designed to hold our attention for as often and as long as possible. The impact of this is that people will be missing out on their lives in one way or another, whether that is personal, work, or business-related and even psychological (revenge procrastination is a thing and something people should be aware of). However, humankind struggles to break that habit, only seeing the short-term benefits they might get from endless scrolling; “It helps me stay informed”, “I research things to do for my family”, “I like the comedy sketches I see”. All of these might be true to a certain degree, but still justifying the time spent on our phones when we are missing out on time spent with our family, loss of focus at work, or essential household chores being left undone, 

The power of coaching highlights Maxi Jazz’s quote, We can all see what needs to be done, but sometimes we need intentional time and a non-judgmental soundboard to really start to use that vision; to see what our future is going to look like if it continues in this way and also what our future could look like if we begin to make small, impactful changes today.

Two groups of questions arise from this.

Start to imagine what your life will look like in a year’s time if you continued with the harmful habits you have today. 

How do you think you will feel? 

Is your habit harmful to your body? 

Will your health suffer? 

Are you noticing anything at the moment that will only get worse if you continue with this behaviour? 

Are your relationships suffering?

Now, start to imagine the opposite. 

What could your life look like in 1 year’s time if you start to make small changes today? 

How would you be feeling? 

What new positive habits are you doing on a regular basis? 

How will your body feel? 

Has your health improved? 

Are you more productive at work? 

What are your special relationships like?


These questions could be put forward to you by your coach. They are fairly simple; you may have even asked them yourself at some point, but in that coaching session, you can start to really visualise what you want your future to look like. Do you want it to continue in the way it is going at present? Or do you want to make changes that will have a strong impact on yourself, and could impact family and friends; you could be the inspiration they needed to start making important changes in their lives. Now visualise; what do you see your important groups’ lives to be like in the future you are imagining?

By giving yourself time to create a vision, to start making some small changes, one at a time, you can exponentially impact the quality of your life in just a year. And if that statement is true, then what about 5 years’ time, or 10? As James Clear states in Atomic Habits, if you improve 1% each day over a year, you would have improved approximately 37.78 times, meaning you are 38 times better than you were. If you don’t choose to improve each day, then you may stagnate or even fall backwards. Small habits, good or bad, ultimately compound over time. So if the small habits you currently have aren’t considered to be truly helpful or healthy, you will progressively feel or perform worse.

Don’t be dismayed when creating your vision; allow your imagination to run wild, because ultimately you can do anything if you put your mind to it. You and your coach can discuss the first small steps you think you need to move toward that ultimate vision.

"The problem is not that you aim too high and miss, but that you aim too low and hit.”

James Clear

Today is always the best day to start making a change, not tomorrow, not yesterday, but today. It doesn’t have to be huge and drastic; in fact, small changes are more likely to have a bigger impact over time; so start to imagine the future you truly want, the future that makes you smile, the future where you are no longer worried or stressed about how you look, feel, or perform because the habits you create today are effortless tomorrow