Smart Women Rarely Hallucinate

Albert Einstein said, “Vision without execution is merely hallucination.” The first time I read this, I thought it was so powerful and spot on. Since the beginning of the New Year I’ve been writing about taking risks, realizing your dreams and goals, and taking inspired action on your big idea. I’ve been expressing the idea that you need to create the space in your life to explore and discover what’s next in your life’s journey. How is that going for you? Have you landed on where your energy and passions are at this time in your life? Do you have a big idea that’s calling out to you? Do you have a vision of what it looks like?

How many times a day do you see a new product or concept and say, “I thought of that idea a long time ago.” Or, how often do you have a new idea or a better way of doing something and you say, “As soon as I can find a pen and paper, I’m going to write that down.” And then what happens? You get stuck at the grocery store, kids baseball, meeting with a client, and forget about it. Or you remember after a long day of being a wife, mom, business woman, and community volunteer and you say, “Oh, it wasn’t such a great idea, forget it.” How do I know this happens? Ladies, I’ve lived it many times! I became so frustrated over the years of having this happen to me that I created the Big Idea book concept. This has helped me to act on my vision and execute at a faster pace. The Women in my Success Circles use this regularly to make sure that they never lose a creative thought or idea on their journey to their own passion and purpose.

Once you’ve created your vision, execution comes next. Execution is your strategy. It’s taking those big ideas and creating inspired action. This is where many of us get stuck. We know what we want to do, but we don’t know what to do first. Or maybe we know what to do but there are critical parts to the plan that we are not sure how to do. This is where your strategy (or support system) can help. I’ll give you an example. Technology is a huge part of any successful business. It’s also a part of my business that I find quite challenging. So guess what? I have created a great support system (thanks Lynne and Maria!) to assist me in my journey. This is a huge topic in my Women’s Success Circles. Why? Because women are nurturers by nature. We are not good at asking for support. It’s crucial to execution to ask for the support that you need. We like everyone to believe that we can do it all. When we support the vision of others (family, friends, clients, co-workers) we become too exhausted to execute our own vision. Here’s a secret that I want to share with you: Every time you meet a woman who’s getting it all done with grace, you can bet that she has created an incredible support system behind her.

If you have a vision, dream, or big idea brewing right now, think about what resources and support you might need in order to execute or realize this dream. Typically the question we ask when we have a great idea is, “How am I going to get all of this done?” I invite you to reframe your question differently next time. When you have a brilliant idea, ask yourself this question instead: “Who can help me accomplish my vision?” When you answer this one simple question and begin to execute, you are now on your way to creating a life full of passion, purpose and meaning.

Enjoy the journey. Anything is possible. Everything is waiting for you.