Forever View

The view looked over tropical flora and across the sea. It was breathtaking. The two friends walked along the property line. One with blueprints rolled and tucked under her arm. The second held a hand up to shade her eyes. She looked toward the ocean.

“We have to protect the forever view,” she said, “no matter what we build here.”

Forever view. Wow.

I inquired.

“We’re building our dream house. We may build a decorative boundary wall or plant trees at the edge of the lot, but we never want to block the view from the house. It’s why we’re here,” she told me.

Forever view. A notion that’s portable to our everyday life whether at work or home. In their case, preserve the view that drew them to that place. Whatever else, always be able to see the sea. At work, it might suggest that we keep our eye on the goal. Whatever task we’re into, the goal is the reason we’re here.

Sometimes, when we’re all in at work, we hyper-focus on the right now. But it’s important for us to think about next and forever; to keep the big goals in mind; to have a forever view.

Just as the woman and her architect will have to look up from their construction and landscaping from time-to-time to check the scenery, we’ll have to be intentional in our efforts. We’ll have to look up from what we’re working on once in a while and make sure we can still see what’s out ahead. To see the forever view is still in our sights.

So try this. Look at your calendar for the coming week. See your busyness? Find one thing that’s blocking your forever view and replace with a forever view item.

For example, consider one less status call in favor of a strategic thinking session—over coffee or cocktails. It might mean one less departmental meeting in favor of walking to lunch with a rising star to hear what they think about the future.

If that doesn’t work, try this. Pour a cup of coffee. Open your calendar. Put a star by everything that looks like your forever view and a line through whatever doesn’t.