How to Know Your Next Step Forward

Oh my god. I am spiraling out of control!
I feel so overwhelmed.
I have so many different ideas and don’t know what steps to take next.
I am spinning my wheels and have no roadmap.
My life is chaos.
I am a mess.

Sound familiar?

You have so many ideas at once, and you aren’t sure where to begin. You don’t know what’s essential or an actual priority. You feel completely stuck with no idea of what to do next.

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Imagine for a second that you have decided to plant a garden in your yard. Your excitement builds while imagining the vibrant, beautiful flowers growing in various colors and varieties.

So right away, you get in the car and drive to the nearest gardening center. It can’t be so hard, right?

But when you get there, the shelves are filled with so many different supplies – pots, shovels, soil, and hundreds of varieties of seeds and plants.

You look around bewildered.

“Should I get this shovel or that shovel? What soil do I need? Should I plant azaleas or daisies or wait…

Do I actually want a vegetable garden instead?”

Your mind is swirling with so many options, and you have no idea where to start.

How do you even plant a garden anyway? Do you need flower beds?

You ask the lanky 16-year-old salesperson for help, and as he stands there shrugging, you feel even more confused.

Are you even in the right store?

So you go home, giving up, tail between your legs, and just say, “I guess this fake plant will be fine.”

Now imagine if you had envisioned your garden before leaving the house and given it some real thought.

You had painted a clear picture of what type of garden you wanted, imagining the colors, types of flowers, location, fencing, and even the beautiful smells.

You researched how to set up the garden, what tools you need, explored different plants you love, and even hired a professional to help you. How do you think the outcome would have been different?

Well, you probably would not have left the store with a fake plant. My guess is that you would have been prepared with a general list of what you needed and would have been able to come home with the appropriate supplies. You would have known where to start and had an overall plan to know where you go next.

In business, it is essential first to identify and craft our vision so we know where we are going. Our vision is a roadmap to guide us forward. It is like a guidepost that will show us when we are off course and if we are heading in the right general direction. In the garden example, creating a vision would involve understanding the general location and type of garden, including the planting method, color scheme, or types of flowers you have in mind. It would be exciting and create enjoyment to imagine what your garden will become.

Okay great. I know what I want. Now what?

Once we have our general vision in place, we need a plan to know what to do next. We have to create a strategy.

The first step is to understand what components are required to make our vision a reality. Do we need soil? If so, what type of soil? What seeds do we need? What is truly important to make this a dream a reality?

After that, we need to identify our priorities and what needs to come first to dictate the order of creation. In the garden example, we need to determine what is essential.

If we are at the register and don’t have enough money to buy everything, we need to determine what we need versus what is nice to have. Perhaps we don’t need the fencing quite yet?

Also, the order matters.

What comes first? We need to make sure we create the garden’s foundation before planting. If we plant the flowers in the cold winter, the soil will be frozen, and the seeds won’t sprout.

When is the best time to grow each element?

Listing the steps from concept to creation and defining the order is essential.

Okay, now, how are we going to make this happen?

How do we need to put this in place? After we have a vision and a strategy, we need to understand how to accomplish our goals.

What is required to make this happen?

Do we need to learn new skills, or is it best to hire someone for help?

We need to know how to put the strategy into action.

The final key to success is consistency.

After all, you can’t just plant a seed and pray. Once you have prepared the garden and planted all the seeds, you need to water and nurture your garden consistently for it to thrive.

Sometimes the garden may need to be watered when it doesn’t rain enough. Sometimes you may need to prune off the dead areas to allow other regions to thrive.

You need to know when you nurture and know when to let things go.

Nurture your business just as though you are nurturing your garden. Consistently show up, adjusting your strategy as needed, using your vision to guide you in the right general direction.

Creating a compelling vision with a clear strategy to achieve it will help you consistently take forward action towards success. Even if you don’t know the exact steps to take or feel stuck, you will have a general idea of where you want to go and take one step forward in the right direction. Knowing where we are going and crafting a plan will help us get where we want to go more efficiently, effectively, and calmly.

As a vision architect, I help female entrepreneurs identify their vision and create the right strategies to show up and achieve success consistently.

If you need help with crafting your vision and creating the right strategy, book a call HERE.