“Here I was, broke and at the verge of being homeless, and all that my friends and relatives could tell me was that I was stupid to have left employment to start my own business without a plan,” the speaker said at a forum I recently attended.  And everybody was silent and just gazed at him, because what he had said sounded too familiar, but this was until he posed four questions—that he finally got everyone’s full attention, including mine.

“What kind of a person are you?” the speaker said.  “Do you make things happen – do you watch things happen – or do you wonder what happened?” the speaker said in a very low tone, as if he wanted every word to slowly sink into our minds.  And it worked, because the moment he finished speaking and paused for a few seconds, there was total silence in the room.  And suddenly people started shifting positions on their seats, as if to make themselves more comfortable and attentive.

The speaker went on to talk about how his business almost collapsed because—although he had good ideas—he had not factored in the benefits of moving them to the next level, by developing a strategic plan.   According to the speaker, a strategic plan involves the process of turning ideas into reality.  This comprises of envisioning why a business or an organization exists, what needs to be achieved for success to be measured, and turning these plans into action points that will lead to the success of a business or an organization.  It was not until he developed a strategic plan whereby he carefully listed down what he wanted to achieve on how to turn his plans into action points, that he was able to turn things around and started making profits.

During tea break I walked over to the speaker for a chit-chart, as I was particularly interested in getting his opinion on how someone could apply the concept of developing a strategic plan at an individual level.  According to him, for you to be the person who makes things happen by turning your ideas in to reality, you need to:

1)      Stop talking and start working.  If you don’t execute your ideas they die.  You need to get to the point where you make up your mind, and decide what needs to happen for you to succeed.  This is done by creating an action plan that will enable you to get things done, by listing down the tasks you need to implement in order to succeed, together with timelines.

2)      Equip yourself.  Identify the resources you have, and those you need to be able to position yourself to succeed.  You also need to learn as much as you can about the new venture you want to pursue, by conducting a research of what others have done—and copy what they did well, and avoid what did not work out well.

3)  Execute your idea.  Nothing happens until you do the work.  At this stage you have an action plan and the required knowledge, so swing into action without hesitation.  And when the going gets tough along the way, do not give up, instead, have a strong-will to push through and overcome moments of doubt and roadblocks.

Everything in life begins with an idea, and the value of any idea is in actualizing it—otherwise it remains just that, an idea.  Stay motivated by determining at an early stage what inspires you towards turning the idea you have in to reality, and this will help you to stay committed to your course.  Remember, what you want in life should be driven by your needs and what is good for you—and not by what others expect of you.