Your future success, it is something that we think about and generally map out through creating flow charts or something of the like. When is the last time you actually took a pen/pencil and drew out your future? If you are like me, you may map out the direction of where you want the business to go or the new opportunities that will be afforded and talk to others about it and create new diagrams on napkins that are filled with arrows and boxes. I have a lot of pieces of paper with arrows, and new papers that take the old arrows that point to new ones. These are useful and very valuable but yet do they really tell the entire story of how we see the success?
Drawing Out Your Future
Your future is not just business. It encapsulates all aspects of your life; your friends, wife/husband, in-laws, children, cousins, friends, the home we live in, the car we drive, the restaurants we go to or want to go, a full evaluation of where we are and where we want to go to and who is going to be there with us. Business is not just boxes and a bunch of arrows. The boxes and arrows provide the direction but not the means. The means are the actual drawing of seeing how the direction fits the reality and the real picture.
The Vision in Your Mind Coming to Life
The vision of your future plays out in your mind. You see it. You think about it and envision it. But do you draw it? Do you draw the house, the car, the kids, the dog, cat, etc? Probably not. That vision does not always come to life when we are mapping out the future. The map is the direction devoid of the visual of the aspects that make the map happen. The drawing of the future is the personal part that makes the business part come to life. If you are embarking on a new book, the travel of the book signings, the new speaking engagements, the family wedding, the birthdays, etc; are they all considered? Not as much as the boxes and arrows. When we draw out the actual vision of the business and the family and seeing how they fit in, it is a different diagram. It is people and their involvement that makes the boxes and arrows exist. I recently was doodling and literally drew out the future that is in my mind. It is a powerful experience of seeing the people and things that you draw around you to match them with the map that you create to grow in business.
The Future of Mapping
The future of mapping is more about the drawing of our future than the mapping. We know that this is true but we really do not want that part to be seen. The practical part, the logistics of making the map a reality. Our business side is many times our own side that is outside of the home life, the part that we try and ignore even when the other part of us is on the other side of the room. This is that secret identity that we know but so many do not always know. We all map but do not always draw. When is the last time you saw an infographic that included the drawings of the logistics of how it happens? Never as this part we have to figure it out on our own. The family, friends, paying the rent/mortgage, car/insurance, etc. When building a business, these are separate and in a way should be but one has an affect on the other. The future of mapping, especially in small business should include the drawing of the future while we are mapping because does the mapping really exist without the drawing?
What do you think? Is mapping and drawing different or almost one in the same? Have you drawn your future or just mapped it out?
photo credit:
