According to Richard Williams, if you don't have a plan, you plan to fail. He wrote a meticulous plan for his two daughters' lives and produced two of the world's top female athletes, Venus and Serena.
The Bible, which I read regularly, has stories and parables about planning all through it. There are two things it tells us to do that I'll call the pre-plan. The first thing it tells us is you must have a vision. Have you ever been in that place where you didn't know your next steps? You were just unclear and unsure of where to go, what to do? Without a vision, we perish. When you have a vision, you can see light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. It provides hope and a knowing that there is a way forward. Think of this in terms of your business. If you don't know what your vision is, then you won't know which steps to take. There would be no next steps, nothing to achieve or look forward to. Having a vision of where you want to be, even if you don't know how to get there, is crucial. Once you have a vision, you can figure out how to get there. You can begin to plan. You don’t plan for nothing, you plan for something and that something is achieving success in small goals that will help you keep focused on your vision.
The second thing that the bible tells us about pre-planning is to write the vision and make it plain. That means exactly that. When I was in college and I needed to study, I would take index cards and write out all of the key points that I needed to focus on. I did that to remove other information, as good as those may have been, that would distract me. I would carry those cards on the train, use them in the library, have them in my bed head and focus on what I knew I needed to be successful on that exam. Same concept applies to your business. Write down every detail of the vision you have for your business. Don’t worry if your vision is so big that it seems unattainable, just write! When you write your vision for your business, it provides an area of focus.
Those who dream big, achieve big. What if Mr. Richard didn’t write his vision? What if he stopped at rejection of the naysayers? What if he lost focus of the vision that gave him the plan for Venus and Serena? Every great success starts with a vision. Your vision is for you to believe in. It’s for you to focus on. No one will get it right but you. No one will be as passionate about you as you will be. Look at the big picture, now get to writing, visionary!