Image by mpujals via Flickr
I asked the group to close their eyes. I suggested they think about a day in the future (You can do this, too). I guided them with some questions.
“Go six months out. Create a picture as vivid and real as possible. What goals have you achieved? What big wins are you celebrating? What is happening on this day 6 months out that isn’t happening today?
What clients are you talking to? What deals have you closed? What have you created? What’s your business model? What’s happening with your valued relationships? Where’s your stress level? What’s your mood? How’s your mindset? What has gone extraordinarily well? How have you surprised yourself?
They opened their eyes. They wrote what they imagined. They read it to somebody else. After they told somebody else, they all stood and dictated their vision boldly and loudly.
I asked them a question. What was the difference between thinking about their vision compared to writing it or dictating it. They told me dictating it felt more real. They felt like they declared it to the universe and spoke it into being. It became more personal. It was more meaningful. Dictating it created a sense of obligation to make it happen.
We’ll measure their progress toward their vision over the next two months. Many will change their vision along the way. Maybe it was too big, too small or the wrong direction. They’ll find out once they start moving toward it.
It’s easy to allow circumstances to dictate our reality. We have plenty of excuses, distractions and obligations. It’s hard to assert ourselves and dictate our reality. We have to define what we want to dictate. We have to take the action of dictating it (out loud – that’s dictation). We have to say ‘No’ to the distractions … sorry, Facebook friends. Then we have to take consistent small steps to make it real.
Most things worth doing are hard. Stop taking the easy way out. Dictate the future. It makes taking the steps to make it a reality easier.
What future is it time for you to dictate? If you don’t do it, somebody else will.
Think it. Write it. Speak it. Do it. Adapt.
Begin.
Related articles
- Making the Most of an Incubator (inc.com)
- Inventing the Future of Management is Everybody’s Job (blogs.hbr.org)
