Three months ago, I wrote a post about my son, Alex… quitting his job in Dallas to pursue his dream in New York City. Not only did he want to relocate to a city where he had no real network of contacts, he also wanted to change industries – from healthcare to music – again, with no real connections. But he had a dream!
I am happy (make that giddy!) to report that Alex has found a new position – financial analyst (exactly what he wanted to do) with one of the largest music labels in the world (and one of the companies he really wanted to work for)!
My purpose for this post is not to boast about my son (though that is a perk!)… but to eat a little crow publicly for opposing his plan from the get-go… and, more importantly, to provide proof (if only anecdotally) that “dreams really can come true.”
And it wasn’t that he was lucky – though there’s always a bit of that involved. But he was focused, committed, worked at it and had a deadline.
So, as a business owner or leader… as you look at your dreams for your firm, are they just “neat ideas” that you hope might happen someday or are you working toward making them come true?
- Are you focused? Do you have a well-defined vision of where you want to get to… or is it just some amorphous “we want to grow” idea? Alex knew exactly what he wanted… to be in New York City and to work in the music industry. Period.
- Are you committed? Is your dream something you regularly discuss as a management team? Are you taking steps to begin the journey? Alex was so committed that he saved his money, quit his [really great] job and moved a thousand miles to a new city.
- Are you working at it? Planning is easy…execution is hard. What are you actually doing to make your dream come true? Every day, Alex sent out resumes, read up on the music industry, met industry people for coffee, met people who knew people for coffee, went on a lot of interviews and sent out a lot of ‘thank you’ notes.
- Do you have a deadline? Do you know what you need to do, who’s going to do it, and by when? Alex’s deadline was driven by the amount of money in his bank account – when it ran out, his plans would change. So, the limited amount of time he had to achieve his dream kept him focused, committed and working hard.
Wrapping up…
As you sit around the conference table at your next weekly management meeting, in addition to taking care of all the things that are in-house right now… block off a little time to start discussing the future of your firm. Where do you want to take it? What do you aspire to be? What’s your vision for 3-5-10 years from now? Then… get to work!
Do that and your dreams really can come true!
Good luck.