Reality Doesn’t Always Look Like the Map You Have for Your Business

I study maps before I travel anywhere. I have a huge atlas that I take with me on road trips, plus I pick up local maps, and there is always my iPhone. I love maps; seeing the endless possibilities, orienting myself with directions, things I want to see and do.

For as much as I love maps, they are no substitute for reality.

Maps can show me where I’m going, but the best discoveries are unexpected gems right around the corner. When the light is hitting a scene just right and it is truly breathtaking. No map will ever compare to that.

I am in Acadia National Park right now, and I can’t stop thinking about this. For as much as I studied the maps, I still was not prepared for the reality.

We do this in our businesses as well. I talk with a lot of people that want to outline every last detail before they launch their company. Being prepared is a great thing, but at what cost? Are you sitting at your kitchen table relentlessly going over your map, without ever heading outdoors with it? Are you so focused on the perfect business plan that you simply can’t launch right now?

Go and DO. Launch your business. Try things. Adjust. Try new things. Adjust again.

For as much as you study those maps, the reality of your business is very different. Sometimes your plans will go out the window – and what you discover instead will be where the magic lives.

In case you wondered, this is what the map of Frenchman Bay, featured in the photo above, looks like.