Imagine going up to the airline ticket counter and telling the ticket agent you would like to purchase a ticket to go on a wonderful vacation, but you aren’t sure where you want to go or when you want to go. What do you think their response would be? Maybe something like “well when you figure out where you want to go and when you want to go come back and I’ll help you. Now please step aside so I can help the next person in line.”
In Lewis Carol’s Alice in Wonderland there is a wonderful passage where the Cheshire cat addresses this same issue by saying to Alice, “if you don’t know where you are going any road will take you there”.
In my coaching practice the single biggest issue I am presented with is that business owners and salespeople don’t know the answer to the questions, “where do you want your business to be and when do you want it to be there”?
When I ask these questions the answers I hear are things like: “I want to make more sales/money, or I want my business to do better or we want to grow our sales and profits”.
Those answers are not good enough because they are vague, hazy, non specific or measurable.
Consequently, they are not realistic or attainable. Before you start trying to figure out how you must first answer the question where and why. Failing to do this, your efforts and activity will produce the same results as a dog chasing his tail.
How do you begin this process? You begin by spending some quality time developing a blueprint for your future.
Start by thinking of how you would like to be spending your time. Of all the kinds of work you could be doing, what do you want to do the most? How many hours do you want to work each week, and how would you like to divide up your working time? Then think about what kind of people you would like to interact with. Who are your ideal clients, customers, colleagues and employees? Next imagine the physical environment in which you would like your business to operate. What would it look like? How large a space would you want? What would it look and feel like? What level of business would you have? How much revenue and profits? How many clients, billable hours etc. would you have? What would be the mix of clients or services that you would provide?
Write your answers in present tense. Don’t worry if your picture is a little fuzzy or you can’t answer all of the questions. You are striving for process not perfection. This process will help you develop the focus necessary to achieve your hearts desire. It takes a lot of time and effort, and some deep soul searching. It is not easy. That is why only 3% percent of people will do it.
You have a choice. You can consciously choose to be one of the 3% that pursues personal excellence or by default you will become part of the 97% mass of humanity that spends their life in mediocrity. I hope you choose to become one of the 3%.