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Committed Movement in a Purposeful Direction

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Conation

We’ve all heard that extraordinary people are just ordinary people who have made extraordinary decisions. It think it’s even more simple than that. Extraordinary people are those who understand that Movement is the Master, and planning is just its humble servant with a small “s”.

While the rest of us are building a perfect plan in an ivory tower, the successful person has already pulled up anchor, hoisted the sails and left the harbor for their rendezvous with destiny. They understand it isn’t about the plan, but about the destination, and that the plan will unfold as they go. They just need to know two things: where they are and where they want to go, and their plan is to do whatever they need to do in the middle to get there.

The rest of us just get nervous at this whole approach. In fact we’re much more comfortable with knowing exactly what the dayto-day activity is and what each day holds going forward. We’re so committed to safety, stability and a perfect map for daily life that we really don’t care what the destination is as long the journey along the way to nowhere holds no surprises.

“I don’t know where I’m going, but I know exactly how I’m going to get there.”

We need to stop worshiping the planning servant and start focusing on the Master – movement.

Committed Movement in a Purposeful Direction

Just because you’re going flat out doesn’t mean you’re going the right direction.

If you don’t have your hand constantly on the steering wheel to control the helm and make ongoing corrections, all the movement in the world isn’t going to help you. It will likely just create chaos as you crash into things and bounce off of them. We need Purposeful Direction – a clear understanding of the end game (not the plan, but the end game – there is a big difference!).

Successful people get moving fast but have a very strong understanding of where they are going. They aren’t just committed to movement, but to movement in a purposeful direction. They have a clear view of the destination. But successful people focus on the end game, not on planning. They didn’t become successful by planning the whole journey out, but by simply having clarity about where they are, where they want to end up, and a complete commitment to get there at any cost.

Do you have Committed Movement in a Purposeful Direction?

Is Your Business Actually Going Somewhere?

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We love to know exactly what the near-term process is we’re supposed to be doing, we’re almost obsessed with it, to the point that at least in business, we’re too often okay with knowing exactly which direction we’re going without any idea where it’s leading us. It’s a little Yogi Berra-like “I don’t know where I’m going but I’m having a great time getting there.” Or in many cases, we have an insatiable need to know the process in all its detail before we will make a single move. Either way we find the process to be more important than the goal.

Mike Shanahan, two time Super Bowl winning coach, would plan the first 15-20 plays of a football game before the game started and not deviate from that plan. What was happening in the world around those plays did not affect his commitment to the order those plays. And he won an awful lot of football games with that approach. It was brilliant football.

But business success just doesn’t work that way. In the early stages of building a business or a new product line, fully knowing in advance the process we use to build it with is never as important as we think. What’s really important is two things:

  1. Great clarity on where we are.
  2. Great clarity on where we want to end up.

If we know with certainty where we want to go, and have equal clarity on where we are right now, we will figure out how to get there. As long as we have the beginning and the end, that will allow us to create a few “next steps” to keep us going.

A stream seems to meander meaninglessly; quiet, rushing, muddy, clear, looping back where it came from – it doesn’t seem to have any clear purpose to it. We see it this way because we’re focused on the process, which does seem random. But the purpose of the stream couldn’t clearer – to do whatever it has to do in order to get to the ocean. And the stream, with all it’s apparent randomness, is 100% successful – every time.

Frodo the hobbit needed to get to Mordor to drop the ring in the volcano. He could see it a hundred miles in the distance with vast expanses of unknown land and obstacles in front of him. He had no idea how he was going to get there, but he knew exactly where he was and where Mordor was, and that allowed him to plan the next few steps. He got to Mordor not by having the entire process laid out first, but by simply knowing where he was and where he was going, and the next few steps.

My mother and father would drive from Ohio to Boston to visit my sister in college. Mom would always take 10-15 miles outside Boston and drive right to my sister’s downtown apartment with no maps. She tortured Dad with this for four years before she told him all she did was point the car at the Prudential building (tallest building at the time), and then turn left to get to my sister’s apartment one block away from it.

Do you know exactly where you’re going with your business? What does it look three years from now at maturity? What does your lifestyle look like then? What is the specific date you’ve picked to get there? Do you know with clarity where are you now – what are the gaps that need to be filled first?

Know where you are and where you’re going, and that will give you enough information to create the next few steps. If you have these three things, you can get to your Mordor. Focus on these and create (and recreate) a process as you go that serves you getting to your destination. Stop serving your process and build it to serve you. You’ll make more money in less time.

Act your way to a new way of thinking – get disoriented.

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Bob Parsons of GoDaddy says simply “get and stay out of your comfort zone”. I agree and would add that adults don’t learn unless we are disoriented.

When we believe we ”know”, that is when we stop learning. We must be disoriented from the comfortable zone we live in.

Learning is helpful, but teaching is usually a waste of time. Teaching is someone filling my head with information when I’m not disoriented enough to learn. Learning is me filling my life with a new way of living.

We do not think our way to a new way of acting.
We act our way to a new way of thinking.

Our education system has it backwards. Therefore, give people new ideas when they are in a place that they want to learn them and they will stick. ”Teach” them the same ideas when they are not disoriented from what they already know in their heads about the subject, and you’ve both wasted your time. The old adage “more is caught than taught”.

Business owners best learn and adapt when they are disoriented enough to gain new Clarity (vision for the future – they see it), that brings Hope (they believe they can do it), that allows them to take measured Risk (they will take action). If they have Clarity about where they are going, they will have Hope, and will take the Risk to learn and adapt. Clarity, Hope and Risk.

Healthy disorientation happens best in community. Business owners rarely live in community, but are taught to go it alone, which gives them even less feedback to disorient them, making them all the more sure that there myopic view of the world is just fine.

John Wayne is dead and we should have buried the rugged individualist with him. Get into community, get disoriented from your reality, and keep learning. The more I learn the less I know.

Clarity, Hope and Risk – growing a successful business.

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In the big picture there are really only three things we need to grow a Mature Business.

Clarity

Successful business owners know where they are going and when they intend to be there. They have a vision for the future that drives everything they do. Do you know where you’re going? What does your business look like at Maturity? Get clarity on where you’re going – it’s the first step in growing a Mature Business.

Hope

When we get Clarity on where we’re going, that creates Hope. We know where we’re going and we have something to begin to invest in mentally and emotionally that gets us excited about the future. He who aims at nothing hits it every time, but those who have a clear direction are busy getting after it. Do you have Hope for your business? If not, you need more Clarity on where you’re going and when you expect to be there.

Risk

Clarity brings Hope, and Hope allows us to take measured Risks to get there. Bob Parsons says “Get and stay out of your comfort zone.” It’s the only way to grow a business. Ray Krock was a little more blunt – “If you don’t want to take risks, get the hell out of business.” If you aren’t taking Risks, you don’t have Hope, probably because you don’t have Clarity on where you’re going.

Clarity creates Hope, and Hope allows us to take Risks. Successful business owners have all three.

Wandering and Wondering In Business

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Are you wandering through your business wondering what it could be like when/if…?

We almost always get something close to what we intend. Most people never think about what they want out of life, so they never figure out what their business should look like to support a life of significance. As a result, most people never accomplish the things that would have made their lives count for so much more. We wander through life wondering how it could be different.

I talk to people all the time who can give me some picture of an idyllic life they find attractive, but being able to verbalize what something might look like some time in the undefined future is much different than intending to achieve it.

Let’s not wander through life wondering what we could have done if….

Bad plans carried out violently many times yield good results. It’s not how good your plan is, but how commited you are to the bad plan you’ve got. What does your ideal lifestyle look like? What impact are you making. WHEN do you want to be there?

What does your business need to look like to support your ideal lifestyle. WHEN will it get there (maturity)?

Clarity brings Hope, and Hope allows us to take measured Risks. Wandering through our business only makes us wonder what it could have been like if…

The Single Most Important Question in Business

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…is the one we ask least often.

As responsible business owners, we invest a lot of time answering the “what” question. What will I sell? What should my price be? What kind of marketing should I do?

We find “how” intriguing as well – How will I find clients? How will I make ends meet this month? And we’re even okay with “who” (who is my ideal client) or “where” (where do I locate, advertise, network, etc.?).

All of these questions – who, what, where and how can be just plain fun to play around with. Why? (hint – this is a pretty important question) – Because they are largely theoretical questions. I can answer ALL of them brilliantly and do absolutely nothing – frozen in my tracks but feeling as if I’ve made great progress. But we’re really just playing office again. Merely doing complex (but easy) things that make us feel important and impress others.

The 2nd most important question in business (see last week’s post) is “when”. We avoid it like the plague because when we attach it to all the other questions (who, what, where, and how), we suddenly lose control of our future. Instead of managing our plans, we are now managed by our Plan, required to take action and move forward when we’d rather sit around thinking about it and just play office some more.

But the biggest, most important question in business is avoided even more then “when”. And it’s the most important question for determining our success.

Why?

On the most strategic level, if you don’t know why you’re in business, you’re going to fold when the going gets tough. And on the most tactical level, if you don’t know why you want to buy that snazzy new printer, you’re going to wonder why you can’t make money.

The “why” question should be attached to every other question you need to answer. What should I sell (why should I sell it)? How will I find clients (why do I want those clients)? Where should I locate (why is this a great place to be?)

And most importantly, “why” even needs to be attached to “when”. When do I want to be at 100 clients (why then and not later/earlier)? When do I want to have a fully mature business (why then and not later/earlier)?

When we ask why, we have a better chance of making decisions that are all aligned with our long-term plan (asking “why” makes us get a long term plan). When we avoid asking why, we make individual decisions in individual vacuums and wonder how we ended up right where we started at the beginning of the year. The result – a business going many directions at once and ultimately going nowhere.

Why gives us clarity of purpose.

If you won’t ask why, don’t bother with the other questions. They are all mechanical questions and don’t matter outside of “why”.

Why are you in business? Why do you do business they way you do? Why do you think it will take you 20 years to grow a mature business (why not 5)? Why do my customers buy from me? Why am I stuck at the same revenue as last year?

Why don’t you ask why more often?

Seth Godin wrote a book called The Dip in which he contends we quit when we shouldn’t and don’t when we should. If we asked why more often in business, Godin, wouldn’t have had a book to write. Answering why helps wake us up to stupid habits that aren’t helping us but just make us comfy (or impressive). And more importantly, answering why we’re in business gives us the motivation to push through the dips, to move from survival, through success, to significance.

Every time you ask a who, what, where or how question, ask “when”, then ask “why”. You’ll make more money in less time. Why do you think that might be true?