Dreams, Decisions and Actions
All great, meaningful and world changing actions have begun with a grand vision. Those who paint bold visions are often considered eccentric and megalomaniac. Many times they actually ARE slightly eccentric and even megalomaniac. This doesn’t change the fact that without grand visions great things would not happen. If Henry Ford had listened to his customers, he would have begun to produce faster horses instead of cars.
Setting goals, dreaming and boldness take us towards a destination, whether it be the execution of an important IT project, building a house, sailing around the world or surviving an amusement park with the children alive and with sanity intact. If we dare to set a goal for ourselves, we have very nearly reached it already. The rest is just execution. Our greatest limitation is that often we don’t really believe we can achieve something. We admire people who do something funny, exceptional, grand, daring of frightening. We wonder about why these people are often very modest about their achievements. Achievement is not, however, the main thing, but instead the journey travelled during preparation and planning.
Sometimes it feels like nothing is just not working. The children are yelling and acting up in the morning, when you should hurry for a meeting. A sales call ends in the potential customer telling you that he will save us both time by telling me that he wants nothing to do with you. A superior kills your awesome and revolutionary project without even asking. These are everyday things, which tend to really wind us up. Is it worth it?
If we have a grander goal, each our own, these little things don’t really matter. These are tiny pebbles in the way to achieving a grander goal. If we make these little things our goal, of course they will agitate and stress us. However, we each have the power to decide our own goals, what we want to achieve and how much we let the small stuff stop us from reaching colleaque Maarit in a small Greek restaurant over a glass of ouzo. I decided that one day I would be CEO of Aurinkomatkat. In January 2011 it materialized. Now me and my wife Riikka have decided to sail around the world for six years.
Stating your vision out loud starts a subliminal process which prods us to act towards reaching our goal automatically, whether in a work related or private matter. We do things that further the reaching of our goal. We don’t do the things that don’t further the desired end result.
A bold vision is the starting point. Many companies have a vision, which the CEO, let alone the staff, rarely understand. Vision states what we want to be and what we want to achieve. It can be insignificant babble about profitable growth, sustainable development, added value to the customer and other consultant nonsense. Vision must be understandable, significant, on everyone’s lips and fingertips. When a company has an inspiring and big enough vision, also the employees are motivated. We all want to do something significant. The people who do extraodrinary things are quite ordinary. They have just dared to dream and decided to do things. Do, not just dream.
”If you don’t want to go anywhere, you will not even reach halfway. ” – An Unknown Wise
Tuomo Meretniemi
The writer is Head of Strategy at Kissconsulting Ltd, a dreamer, an optimist and a badass executor. He is preparing for a six-year long around the world sail with his family.
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