Last night we kicked off EntreLeadership Master Series in Orlando. This is our week-long version at a resort…someone has to suffer. Today we started Entre with the lesson “Dreams, Visions & Goal Setting.”
It’s a lesson about taking your dreams from the 30,000-foot view, turning them into a vision that is doable, and finally tearing that vision into pieces that are actual goals you can accomplish. As you complete each well planned and thought-out goal, you are able to implement your dream.
Now that was a very brief explanation of the lesson. I really want to focus on one part — dreaming. As leaders — heck — as people who want more than the same ole same ole, we all need to be dreamers. And I’m not talking about playing video games all day long and dreaming of what it would be like to live in a fantasy world. I mean spending some time focused on what the future could be like. Start by asking the question “What if?”
What if you spend time dreaming about what your business could be? What if you create a new product line? What if you expand into new territories? What if you concentrate on helping your business as if it belonged to someone else? What if you spend time creating a list of what is going wrong in your business and figured out how to fix it…all?
Find a spot in your calendar to get away from everything — work, team members, family, CELL PHONE — everything but God. And then open your mind. Don’t critique what’s popping up in your head. Just take the opportunity to simply…dream. Then write it all down. Even the stuff you think is bad.
Now that you have it on paper…or…iPad, list your ideas according to importance. If you implement this one, what kind of affect will that have on your business? Don’t list them by difficulty of implementation, or you’ll never do them. Which is the most important dream to implement first? Then attack it by setting goals. List out everything it would take to accomplish that dream. Think through every possible step needed to complete the process. Once you’ve done that, you will then have in front of you the perfect to-do list.
Some of you will read this and get fired up and lock down that time on your calendar right away. If that’s you, you will be successful with your implementation. Unfortunately, some of you have taken so many knocks that when you read this you’ll think, “That’s nice, if I had the time.” Or, “That’s nice, for someone else.” As long as that is your thought process, you will stay living the same life, situation and problems that you live in every day. You have to make a choice to dream. You have to allow it to be OK. Now go do it!
