Imagine Success Before Every Important Decision

Imagine success before you make an important decision.

You have a great opportunity or face an important threat. What do you do?

My new book, Create the Future, recommends that you get clear about what success would look like before finalizing your new initiative to exploit the opportunity or counter the threat.

What are you trying to achieve? Are there different forms of success that you could capture? Are there different ways to achieve the success you imagine?

Too often, our first reaction to a challenge is to punch back or run after the easiest win.

We think of the result of our first reaction as success. This approach shortchanges the potential opportunities you have.

Start by imagining what is possible. What could success look like? What do you hope to achieve or need to achieve?

Ask what opportunities the challenge gives you.

Success is a choice. Success is a choice you make.

Are you trying to keep going with no big changes? Are you challenging yourself and your team to stretch to a difficult goal?

Are you trying a moon-shot initiative with big potential and a high risk of failure?

Is failure OK as a possible outcome?

Defining success forces you to think about what you are really trying to accomplish with a new product launch, a new financing, or a new marketing campaign.

Are there different ways you can realize that success with greater potential or less risk?

First, define success including measurable operational goals and a timetable. Then design an execution plan with a reasonable chance for achieving the success you imagine.

The Magic of Light

The stained glass windows of major cathedrals in Europe are a joy to the eye and are historical treasures. The art and craft are in the windows. When I visited Antoni Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona, the art was in the dramatic bath of colors the windows projected onto the interior of the cathedral.