They simply fly away
Have you ever flown a kite? Do you remember what it was like the first time you flew a kite? I was an excited child when I received my first kite from my mom and dad on an Easter weekend decades ago. The April winds were clipping and spring temperatures were climbing with the bright sun blazing. Getting that kite ready to fly was exhilarating. Now it’s launch time. Hold the string that is a few feet from the kite and run into the wind with kite being pulled behind you by the wind. Release more string so that the kite can rise higher and higher. Maybe you can release dozens of feet of string and be amazed at how high and how far away that kite has gone. Then there is the hazards that we didn’t think about; the power lines, the tree, the wind gusts, the string’s strength etc. Flying a kite can often lead to disappointment because the weak string broke and that kite just blew away. For too many of us, ideas become like flying a kite. We are excited about the great heights we want to attain but we let time blow our ideas away.
You might have a great idea for your life but it is still just an idea. It’s critical to make your idea a reality. Please remember that it is only an idea that floats around in the air with a weak string and gets lost in the wind. Life is full of power lines, trees, strong winds and weak string that distract your great idea. Recently, I was in a coffee meeting with a very successful and very dedicated business owner. During our conversation he mentioned to me that three years ago he had this great idea about what he could do with his business but had yet to take action on it and hoped to soon. I asked him how old he was and he told me he was 48. I asked him if we should schedule another coffee meeting when he was 51 so that we could discuss the great idea that he had six years ago but hadn’t taken action. The leader’s eyes opened wide and he quickly took action to begin making his idea tangible by being proactive.
We all know that ideas can too often be like a kite. We need to make our ideas something way better than a kite that flies away in the wind. It is very important to make things more tangible than the distractions of the power lines, the trees and the weak string that allow ideas to fly away. Recently, I met with another small business owner and asked him what his plan looks like for the next three years. He stated that he has some ideas but really doesn’t have a plan yet. If you don’t have a plan, how are you going to find your destination? Make your ideas real.
The hardest work with new idea is thinking and planning. Are you ready to plan or are you flying a kite? Here’s a video from Growth Coach Sioux Falls client Dr. Nathan Unruh about how the Growth Coach helped him make things tangible:
