Turning Your Vision into a Reality

Wouldn’t it be great if it was possible to see the future, and to use this vision to shape your own destiny?

Well, actually we can! I have done it myself and you can do it too.

In 1999 I had a seasonal job working for California State Parks. My summer work was almost completed… under budget and ahead of time. At the beginning of the week, I stopped by the North Coast Redwoods District headquarters office to tell my boss the good news. But when I got to his office he mumbled and grubbed that he didn’t have time to talk, that he was too busy. 

As the week went on I kept thinking to myself, in my career I want to always work with awesome people! I decided that I want to work with people who even when they are extremely busy will always have time to talk and plan and figure things out. I want to work with people who love to teach and who strive for excellence. But most importantly to work with people whom I can have a personal connection with… who have compassion… and who want to make a difference in the world.

All week I kept thinking about this desire. I imagined how happy I would be working with these people. I could almost see and feel what it would be like. Friday morning I woke up super early and I felt great. I was camping out at the work site… just me and lots of wildlife. And every morning, my small crew of heavy equipment operators would drive in to meet me. My project site was in one of the most remote locations in California, where no one ever came to visit. 

Out at the job site, I was feeling really motivated and was working closely with my crew doing a lot of training and really striving for excellence. At one point I noticed a white-haired man in a Park uniform watching us from a distance. After a detailed discussion with the excavator operator, I left the half removed stream crossing and went over to talk with him. As I approached, he smiled and reached out his hand and said: “Hi I’m Don Beers”. 

I gave him a tour of the work. He complimented me several times. He asked a lot of questions... questions that I was certain he already knew the answer to. But I did my best to explain everything that we had accomplished. Then he said, “I see you are almost finished, what are you going to do next”? 

“I’m not sure”, I replied. After all, the job had only been advertised as seasonal work and the first signs of autumn was already in the air. 

“You wanna work for me?” he asked.

I spent the next 7 years working for Don Beers. He taught me so many things, he was never too busy to help someone, he put people first, he had compassion, and he taught us to work hard to make our little piece of the world a better place. He was known up and down the State as the best project manager in the organization… someone you could always depend on to get work done. And he had a vision for the program. During our work, he made writing project proposals a top priority… and as if by a miracle, seemingly out of nowhere, funding flowed into this program.

I was working in some of the most magnificent forests on earth! Every day I was surrounded by ancient trees that sprouted almost 100 human generations before me. It was awe-inspiring and amazing to think about this history of these natural places… fires, floods, droughts, hunting, gathering, farming, logging, and now road removal construction. 

But after several years, I started thinking that camping in the woods all summer was getting old. The bears that wandered past my tent at night no longer interested me. My learning curve on the bulldozer had plateaued. I decided that what I really wanted was to work with people. I saw myself working in teams, sharing what I had learned with others, being a part of something bigger.

I remember the day it happened. I kept thinking about the Sierras, about skiing, about pine trees and granite. I wrote an email to an old friend who had left the coast years prior to go work in Tahoe. He and I used to play Frisbee for fun at some of the most beautiful (but cold) beaches on earth… Little River, Moonstone, Luffenholtz, College Cove... the true meaning of the "good old days". I asked him if he knew of any jobs.

A few days later, to my surprise, Don Beers announced that he was retiring and that because of budget cuts we should consider looking for other jobs. And then, the next day, my friend wrote me back and said, yes, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency had the perfect job for me.

So I went to Tahoe. I felt like I had finally come home. After all, I grew up in the Sierra Nevada not far to the north. The shape of the mountains and the scent of pine trees and manzanita brush are as familiar to me as the palm of my hand. In Tahoe, my job was to drive around the lake and stop at construction sites to do environmental compliance monitoring... to bust people who were caught polluting the lake. 

I passed by Emerald Bay almost every day! I was really living a dream! Swimming, sailing, skiing, hiking in one of the “wonders of the world”. I got to work with lots of great people. Some weeks I literally had contact with hundreds of different people. And I built trust and respect with everyone I came into contact with. Every morning when I woke up I promised myself that I would never abuse the power bestowed on me as a compliance officer, that I would always be fair and just, that I would always first seek to understand.

My coworkers and my managers were totally awesome! The vision had come true.

I often stopped just north of Emerald Bay in the morning to refill my cup with hot Yerba Mate from my thermos. I found a perfect “secret” spot where I could pull over in a little turnout that no one ever used, and easily walk behind a few large boulders into an old growth pine covered terrace overlooking the lake. I would stand there in the morning sun and feel such an awesome overwhelming gratitude to be working to protect one of the most beautiful places on earth!

But after many years, I also started feeling a change and thinking that it was time to do something bigger. I started seeing that my future held something else… that my destiny laid beyond Lake Tahoe.  I saw that I was going to be a part of something historic and monumental. Once again I felt the winds of change coming.

One day I was walking with my parents at the UC Davis Arboretum. My father had recently been brought back from the dead by a miraculous heart surgeon. We came across the Infinity Sculpture… a sculpture that represents the cycle of life. The piece has dozens of scenes all made our of ceramics each showing one aspect of the life of an Oak tree from its germination through 400 years of history. The sculpture is magnificent, yet simple and earthy.

Just then, my mom got a call on her cell phone from a family friend. She handed me the phone. Was it Fate? Or was it my destiny unfolding pursuant to my dreams? The woman on the other end said: “Do you know Jon Waggoner?”

I didn't, so I went to Sacramento for an interview. Jon had been assigned to lead the development of an environmental compliance program for California High-Speed Rail and he was assembling a team. Fate and destiny are intricately interwoven with the lives of others… like an ecosystem or a spider web. When one strand of the web is touched, the entire structure vibrates.

Before my interview, by chance, I met Mark McLoughlin, the Director of Environmental Services, in the men’s restroom. Standing side by side at the sink, I gave him my carefully prepared, heartfelt, 30-second self-introduction. He looked at me in the mirror and remembered another person of integrity and compassion… and he said, “I worked with your dad!” Then, half an hour later, he walked into the interview room and started talking to me like we were longtime friends. As it turns out, who you know really does matter, even when it spans the generations. And “starting” your interview in the parking lot… or in the restrooms in my case… can change everything.

Looking back now, I can see that it was all meant to be. First, I saw myself working with awesome people healing the earth… and I met Don Beers. Then I wanted to work with lots of people and protect something big… and my feet landed on the shores of Lake Tahoe. Next, I wanted to do something historic… I wanted to really make a difference… and that vision led me to one of the world’s largest infrastructure projects that will forever change the face of California.

So what did I learn from all these experiences? I learned that I could see the future and that I could use that vision to shape my own destiny. It all starts by imagining what it is you want, and then focus on that vision with intensity and resolve. Close your eyes and see yourself doing exactly what you have always dreamed of doing. Feel what it will be like when it happens. Know that you are on the right path. And most importantly, always be thankful and always express thanks with true emotion. And then when the time is right, your vision will become a reality.