Hope Is Not A Strategy!
”Geez I hope I can make my business a success” “I sure hope we can afford to buy a bigger house”. “I hope I can get a new car.”
Does any of this strike a familiar chord? For most of us we have all been there, you know where we dialogue; we hope for this, and hope for that, and there isn’t much more effort than that put towards it.
It ends up being just a form of verbal wishing. It’s common, and it is counterproductive!
I tell all of my clients who come to me with the exact same dialogue coming out of their mouths.
That’s where I am blunt as a spoon, and I tell them frankly, “hope is NOT a strategy”! But I would love to share with you what is!
I then proceed to tell them as I am telling you, when you are striving for something more in your life, it will never make it beyond a warm fuzzy thought, or the dream phase until you implement one thing first… and that is a PLAN!
Many people have heard of these concepts, and most likely only dabbled in executing them. But without guidelines that not only tells you what to do, but why to do it.
It all too often ends up as an exercise in futility!
All true successes start with a vision and end with a plan!
It is these mapped out steps that take you into motion with direction. You have a vision of how your business will be, and now you must write it down. There are a few steps to this process, and it must begin with this.
That’s right, write down that vision, in a place that is easy to reference, because you will need to, over and over and over.
Some people use a special journal, others use simple 3 hole punch paper and keep it in it’s own binder. The options are endless, as long as the end result is that it gets OUT of your head and ONTO paper.
First; Commit your goal to paper. By writing it down it does something to us on a deeper level, it suddenly becomes more of us, who we are, it becomes personal. I call it, “getting it in your body”, just the simple act of writing it down and committing it to paper, makes it feel real, and attainable.
Second; Next I want you to write WHY you want this goal this dream, this vision in your life. Why is it so important to you? Is it fun, does it give you strength, better self esteem, affords you a legacy, family security, creates wealth, or love. No matter what the reason(s) are…they are your reasons and they are quite valid!
Third; Now you must write down exactly any and all options, ideas, you have to get to that goal. Remember all options and ideas are valid at this point, just let the ideas flow; do not shoot down anything for now.
For instance perhaps your goal is to work every other month; what would be your options for attaining a lifestyle like that? Perhaps one option is, to live off of your savings during your time off months. An idea may be to get those months lined up ahead of time, and book
It’s easy, just allow yourself to be creative. Start writing and leave nothing out. Every idea is worth considering, even if it is just fro a moment.
Fourth; This is where you give your goal and options some structure on how you will make it happen. I think we can all agree that staying at home wringing your hands with worry will NOT get it done!!
You have listed some excellent ideas, and options on how to get there. So how will you connect the dots?
Put in a time stamp; make this a time sensitive situation. Example; in 10 days I will have fully committed and rearranged my schedule to what I need to make this goal work.
Or this, “within one month I will have a schedule that will make my dreams possible”! How will you make this work for you? If there are steps, Example; say 3 people are going to need notification of your plans, in order to make this work for you. No problem, list them with exactly what needs to be conveyed to each of them. Keep it very clear, and easy to follow.
This will assist you by keeping you on track, it also makes for easy accountability, and by writing it down you will not miss any important steps in the process.
These steps will get you on your way I promise. This is the exact formula I personally use, it has helped me as well as my clients countless times.
To create effective, efficient strategy you do not need scores of people sitting around a gleaming board room table ( not just yet ) shouting out ideas, or plans.
What you will need is to be completely honest about what you want and why!
You will need some “alone time”, to unwrap and relax your brain, this will allow the creative side of you to stand up, stretch, take a deep breath, and finally have a turn at the microphone.
Do not tell yourself you cannot do it, or list all the barriers and reasons why you cannot have it, because if there is a will there is way!
Brainstorm ideas; get crazy, the possibilities are endless.
As the internationally known Marketing Guru Dan Kennedy always says. “Rarely is the reason for failure ever a lack of funds, it is almost always lack of creativity and planning.”
By the way…….yard sales and E-bay are not bad options for untapped funds discovery!
The trick is to think differently, it will start with choice, perhaps no more exotic coffee drinks, or getting your nails done every week.
Cutting down and cutting out on the extras can make BIG opportunities possible.
Try adding up a some nice little luxuries you have in your life right now, see what the monthly out lay really is! That can rather eye opening in and of itself.
Go forth and plan, you will be pleasantly surprised at how FUN and easy it really is.
It is the foundation of every success!
“Never, Never, Never Give up” — Churchill
Viki V is The Business Buddha: She quickly easily teaches the start-up entrepreneur and small business owner how to launch and expand a SUCCESSFUL business, while maintaining their sanity!
Viki V’s national clientèle span a wide range of SUCCESSFUL businesses, and she says one thing remains true for every success story.
Would you like to know what it is? You can start by signing up for this amazing FREE monthly E-zine. As my thank you, you will also receive my Free Bonus report !! “The Ultimate Survival Guide for being a successful entrepreneur… while LIFE happens” http://www.Thebusinessbuddha.com see you there!
Tags: business success, common, hope, hope is not a strategy, strategy, success, verbal wishing
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