Some of the best business advice I’ve ever received from my mentors is to “work from the end in mind.” It took me a few months to actually understand what this meant, but by using this advice, it changed the trajectory of my business (and my life!) for the better! 

What does this mean exactly? It means working from the place you want to BE vs. making plans on how to get there.

You’ll hear me talk a lot about how I don’t set goals, because they feel overwhelming. They often feel directionless, where there are number different roads you could be taking but never knowing which one is the right way to get you to your destination. There are detours, mistakes made, and what always feels like a lot of guessing. There isn’t any knowing, and because of that, easy to fall off the path and never really reaching that milestone you set for yourself.

BUT if you establish a vision and act from it, your 30,000 foot view, “pie in the sky,” idea and start looking from the top down, a lot of clarity begins to surface. As you begin to descend, you get to see what you really need to be doing to get you to the top.

For instance, when you started your business, you may have imagined what your business “could be,” and then you looked at all of things you “should” do to get there. It probably started to feel overwhelming, and you likely just kept the “I’ll learn as I go” mentality. But, this is where people get stuck and burned out – because they don’t actually know where to start, and they certainly don’t want to get it all wrong! – so you just started trying new things, with the hopes it works. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it feels like you’re driving without a GPS and not knowing if you’re taking the fastest route or the ones with dead ends, potholes, and out the way streets.

Instead, how would it feel to work from the place you already want to be? Working from possibility feels good, right? 

I regularly visualize where I want to be (and sometimes I’ll use a successful business owner I look up to as an example), and then start to ask myself questions like:

• Who do I need to be in order for me to reach my definition of success? Some of my answers generally circle around… (tip: If you have trouble answering this for yourself, choose a business owner you look up to and ask yourself how they act in their business/life in order to be who they are.)
  • … someone who has the freedom to continue to create without limits
  • … the confidence to put myself out there and do what I’ve been put here to do
  • … having a business that can run itself
  • … the flexibility to be the visionary of my company vs. the person who is working on my business all the time. 
• How would it feel to be at that place of success? 
  • My answer is generally feeling balanced, abundant, inspired, at peace/calm.
• What do I need to do to achieve these? 
  • My answer is typically very clear at this point – and have the strategy down for what I need to do to get my business running the way I need it to (this way, my business doesn’t start to run me!)

Without fail, these guiding questions always point me in the right direction and invite you to try this out, too! 

After you do this exercise, download the free business vision guide I created and use in my business (you can find it here!), if you’re someone who is looking for new possibilities in their business. With a little practice and dedication, I can tell you, when you start working from the top in mind, big things inevitably start shifting in your favor! 

Looking forward to seeing you at 30,000 feet, 

Lindsay