When you trundle off to the supermarket do you write a list beforehand, or do you prefer to leave your mind open to whatever takes your fancy when you arrive?
Imagine that there are things you need in your store cupboard. Looking in the cupboard before you leave, making a list of what you need to buy and then taking that list with you SIGNIFICANTLY increases your chances of coming home with the items that you both want and need.
Alternatively, arriving at the supermarket without your list tends to leave you no other option than wandering up and down every aisle, scanning the shelves for clues about what you might need, and allowing yourself to be drawn to all sorts of other offers and promotions that you might want, but quite possibly don’t really need.
Let’s apply this analogy to your business.
Wandering through your business life reacting to enquiries and requests and building ranges of products and services randomly without clear thought or proper research and development is a bit like arriving at the supermarket with no list. The lack of a ‘list’ leads to poor discipline, random actions and the acquisition of commitments that are failing to help your business thrive.
Alternatively creating a clear and well defined vision with specific goals, is like preparing your shopping list. It focuses you on what you need, want and require from the business: it ensures that you visit the aisles or take up the opportunities that help you reach your goal, rather than randomly getting involved in anything and everything that passes you by.
If you know what you want, you sure as anything have a better chance of going out and getting it.