Clarity is the secret sauce of business.
When you have it, building unstoppable momentum is easy.
When you don’t, making progress is harder than pushing sh*t uphill.
Have you read Stephen Covey’s book: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People?
Habit #2 explains why you need to start with the end in mind.
Doing this gives you direction.
It’s like bumpers when you’re playing ten pin bowling.
It ushers the ball to the pins and prevents you from going way off track and landing in the gutter.
It acts as a guide.
But having 20/20 vision and seeing exactly what you want is hard.
Unless you’ve already been there and done that, any picture you try and create in your mind would be a blur.
That’s why mentorship works so well — a good mentor already has a picture of the ideal scene and can tell you how to create it. This is invaluable when you think about it because it speeds up your growth and prevents so many mistakes along the way.
But what happens if you don’t have a mentor doing what you want to be doing?
How do you clear the brain fog and get crystal clear on where you need to go?
You can always try this little piece of magic.
It works so well it is like having a magic wand.
Ask yourself the following question:
“What would I do if everything were perfect?”
Or another way:
“What does it look like when I have built my dream business?
Simple, but it works ridiculously well if you actually answer it.
You can ask yourself questions like:
In your perfect scene, where would you attract new customers?
What value would you provide them (think outcomes, not features)?
What do you get in return?
How would you engage with your target market?
How would you build a sticky brand?
Starting with the end in mind is a great mental model whenever you need clarity or want to make the right decision.
So whenever you feel stuck, or need to make the right decision the first time, start by asking yourself:
“What would this look like if it were perfect?”
– Karl Goodman