Have you ever felt like you're shouting into the void? Wondering how to get your plans off the ground if it's just you moving them forward? How your schemes can help your bottom line so you can keep moving forward? How your dreams to fulfill your mission can move forward without everything coming together - and right now?
Here's the scenario: You developed an idea and everyone you talk to loves it. And then nothing happens. Why?
Where things go wrong and frustration sets in is in the translation of idea to action. Often it comes down to one of two things:
- The story, aka focus, strategy or map, isn't focused.
or - Your 'ask' - What am I giving versus what is required? - is out-of-sync with your strategy.
To crest the hill from idea to action, first view your ideas as fluid. View your core concept as your focus and tell that story over and over again. Hone your 'elevator speech'. Get verbose with your needs and leave nothing out. When you capture all that you can, it clears the path to see all that you need. And makes the 'ask' for resources, whether they are time, expertise, money, or goods, that much easier. It also emboldens your ability to say 'no..that's not my focus/story/strategy'. This clarity assists everyone, regardless how they choose to come alongside you in the journey. I tell my clients (and colleagues): 'You can't over-communicate with me.' I want to your thoughts so I can visualize your future. And get you climbing.
Then, if we reframe the argument and the conversation to consider the possibilities and everyone a donor of resources - time, expertise, money, or goods - then the 'ask' becomes clearer. And hearing those eventual requests for data and proof, which comes with the money trail, become less upending to your plans and schemes and dreams. Get clear on your bandwidth - one client's favorite word - so that when you have someone able to help, they will. NB: every bit of help is helpful, if for nothing more than helping you get clearer on where you need help or to help refine your story. Again, your ability to say 'no thank you/not now/I appreciate the offer and will come back to you' is a tool in this process - the carabiner keeping you attached to your mission and your story. And rightly so. I tell my clients (and my children): 'Make the best decision you can with the information you have.' And when you have more information, if you need to make a different decision, do it. Get guidance and change your climb to the top.
Following this approach will soon have everyone speaking the same language, and there will be less ambiguity around plans or goals or what to do next. Then, write it down. Because every mountain to climb, every journey begins with a destination in mind - and a plan of action to get there.