Achieving Your Dreams Is 99% Execution
Inspiration alone is not enough
It was Thomas Edison who coined the phrase: “Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration” sometime around 1902.
Though he is known as the inventor of many household items such as the light bulb and phonograph, he was not always the first one to actually come up with the idea. He was able to take advantage of the U.S. Patent system because of his reknowned “invention factory” in Menlo Park, N.J. He lined up the best engineering talent and wealthy investors and then was able to commercialize his inventions to the consuming masses and businesses. In short, he executed without parallel while others much smarter than he receded into obscurity.
The same conceptual ratio applies to your hopes and dreams. It is important to have them, don’t get me wrong. But most people stop at “wish” and “want”. I hear people all the time talk about what they want in life; a nice car, 2d home, a new career, a million dollars, etc. This includes me. Yes, I talk to myself all the time! However, I hear very little about how they are going to achieve those wishes and desires.
It all starts with a plan. Very few people create a plan, and even fewer follow through on a plan. A plan starts with clearly defined goals, and then identifying metrics to determine whether the goals are being met. Meeting your goals will require perspiration, as well as tweaking when things go against plan and resilience when the plan goes awry.
Without a plan, you’re truly doing it on a wing and a prayer, with very little hope of achieving the dream.
