Often the difference between a successful man and a failure is not one’s better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on his ideas, to take a calculated risk, and to act – Maxwell Maltz
In my last blog post, I shared a short video of a true life story of some young boys in South Thailand, who despite their adverse circumstances rose to become regional football champions. You can watch the video here.
The achievement of their success all started with just one idea, that seemed totally impossible to achieve. So it is with most of us. We all get many ideas as we go through life, but what do we do with most of the ideas?
How do we translate some of these ideas into reality? Napoleon Hill put it succinctly when he said ‘First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.’
Converting an idea into a reality (regardless of the required investment of time and money) is never an easy task. In fact, it is extremely difficult. Whether you are an entrepreneur or corporate executive, “giving ideas life” is much like giving birth to a child. You must own the responsibility regardless of the circumstances.
Some of the practical ways to translate your ideas into reality include:
- Write down as many ideas as you can on paper – Most ideas are fleeting, and if you do not write them, almost instantaneously the idea is forgotten. Begin by sorting out your ideas; big and small. Categorize and prioritize them based on your needs.
- Compare your idea or strategy to your vision and mission statements. Does it really fit in with your long term goals? Does it change anything in a way that you must explore or does it just confuse the picture? It’s important that the ideas you want to act upon fits in with your goals or help you solve current challenges.
- Believe in yourself – Believe that you can make things happen. Be confident that when, not if you trip, you can still rise and learn from the mistakes you have made. It is okay to fail forward!
- Develop a plan around your idea with some timelines – Add some flesh to your plan. This will involve thinking through your idea, and expanding the idea with practical action steps.
- Hold yourself accountable – It helps greatly to hold yourself accountable to people whom you value their opinions. This will include your board of advisors, your business coach and/or mentor. Learn from those who have more experience than you do, so you don’t waste too much time re-inventing the wheel.
- Connect the dots as you go along – It is almost impossible that everything will happen exactly as in your plan. There will be detours on the way. So avoid over-analysis, the what-ifs and just keep moving. Adopt the attitude ‘We’ll cross the bridge when we get there”.
- Focus on building momentum -Building momentum is critically important to convert your idea into a reality. Stay focused, stick to your plan, eliminate distractions and neutralize the noise (like the young lads did in the video)
QUESTION: How are you able to translate some of your ideas into reality?