“Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I have never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down.” – Charles F. Kettering
If you’ve read this blog for very long you’ve probably guessed that we spend a lot of time working with our clients on planning for the future. A huge part of how we structure that process is establishing a vision of WHERE you want your business to be, in much more detail than people typically do in their own minds. I’m convinced that there’s no way to successfully navigate meaningful, results-oriented change without having that clear picture laid out first.
That said, at some point, you do actually have to, you know, do something. It’s a lot of fun (at least for me) to sit around and strategize, to think about the future and people and markets and customers and all those kinds of things. It’s fascinating to work through different scenarios and how we might handle different things that come our way, or, better yet, how we might influence those things rather than respond to them.
But eventually, you have to take action. You have to do things. In particular, you have to do things you haven’t done before. Thoughtful consideration first is important, but then go. Start doing the things you’ve talked about doing.
Just as importantly, you have to keep doing those things. You’re going to get busy, you’re going to run into barriers, you’re going to have all kinds of issues to deal with. But you have to keep going. You can’t stop. You may have to adjust, but you can’t stop. Sitting down in the mud and hoping won’t cut it. You can’t allow yourself to get so distracted that the change you need to make to reach your WHERE grinds to a halt.
So as you get ready to take the plunge, make sure you’ve built accountability into the process somewhere. Who or what is going to make sure you keep doing the things you’ve agreed to do? For more people, self-accountability is a myth. Who are you going to enlist to make sure you keep going? Because you’ll never get there if you don’t keep moving.
