Your Starting Point

I was speaking with a client who has a beautiful vision for a very unique type of healing center. She told me that the perfect property to house her center just came on the market. But it was going for $2.6 million dollars. "Now what?" she asked, since this wasn't in her budget.

Then, she spoke these dangerous words,"But if I'm on the right path, the resources will come, right?" I'm always wary when I hear this type of phrase because often these words reveal the part of an idea that has stopped growing; where creativity, resourcefulness, and flexibility are not allowed. In fact, this client hadn't done anything about her idea since she had seen this property, stymied by its perfection.

This stalled moment is something I call vision blindness. When we're first envisioning our ideas, we often see them fully executed and many of us have even created vision boards that show us where we want to end up. But this final vision can often be so seductive that it blinds us to our starting point.

The starting point - where I am right now - is easily judged as being inadequate and inferior to that future vision where everything is fully executed and perfect. We look around ourselves and it's easy to see what is not there and this can be discouraging. But we don't judge babies because they can't perfectly walk or talk, right?

So how do we figure out the baby steps that are possible today instead of waiting for things to be perfect before we begin?

In the Upanishads it is written that "the spider reaches the liberty of space by its own thread," which always reminds me that our most important resources are inside us. The client above knows she doesn't really need that property to begin, although it would be nice. Her idea was born out of a deep desire to create community and wasn't attached to a certain acreage until she made her future vision board.

We spoke about how Jesus began his church under the trees, he didn't wait for Notre Dame to be built. "How can you begin," I asked her, "now?" Her passion to create connection was her string and when she followed it, she immediately began to brainstorm alternative spaces and ways to begin. They were steps the size of her own two feet.

I propose you make a vision board of your starting point, of your life today. Focus on the positives - your skills, experience, friends, family, pets. Where something isn't (money, expertise, partners, etc), use some positive image to represent not the lack but the potent space waiting to be filled. Fall in love with right now because everything you need to create the future is here.

Then, make a vision board of your fully realized idea. Place the two side by side. You might be amazed at the bridges you'll discover that connect them.

To get from here to there, you must hold both here and there inside you simultaneously. Feel the ground under your feet right now. Look to the sky. In what direction is your next step?

WEEK 3 - Homework Assignment

1. Make a vision board of your life today and put today's date at the top of the paper. Either cut out images from magazines or draw the different parts of your life. Use photographs if you like. Create a symbol for what is yet to come. Again, this can be a drawing or an image from a magazine but label it with words like funding or the perfect business or creative or technical partner, etc. Color it, embellish it, pour essential oils on it. Engage your senses!

2. Create a vision board of your realized vision and put a date on it in the future. Also, write your logline at the top of the board next to the date. Include the people that will be part of it, what your day will be like then, how much money you will have in the bank or coming in that day.

3. Look at them side-by-side. What connections do you see? Please share them with us!

Hitting the Wall

I'm putting together a documentary project and I've hit a wall. Based on the subject matter, there are 2 companies that could finance it. Company A has agreed to donate some seed money which is enough to begin but not complete the film. Company B has access to many of the important subjects but is not interested in putting up any money. Because of the competitive nature of the industry, Company B has said that if I take Company A's money, they will not participate meaning I would lose some important interviews.

Now what?

Oftentimes in the idea development process, we hit a wall. There's a great Arab saying that goes, "When you must decide between two difficult choices, choose the third." But how do you even discover a new path when you perceive your options as limited?

This post, we'll look at how to define the nature of the wall (it is usually inside of us) because oftentimes in the process of assessment, ways to sidestep or dissolve the wall become apparent. It's usually when we allow the wall to be vague that it feels enormous and is capable of controlling us.

If we look at this doc project, I cannot do anything about the 2 companies and their positions but when I look at what I can control - my own beliefs about the project - I see clearly a thorn in my side. I have a belief that I need Company B's contacts. I realize this is an opinion and not a fact. Though they are an aspect of the story, they are not the only aspect. I now have a choice instead of a wall.

Look at your idea and write down all the next steps that you can imagine. Take each one and write down your reactions to each step. Which reactions are concrete facts and which are your beliefs?

Someone submitted an idea about filming dowsing meetings because he was interested in capturing the spiritual content there. He asked the question, "What can I do to make this happen?"

Whether or not he has any experience making videos, I believe he has everything he needs to make this idea happen. But his question shows that he believes otherwise. Perhaps he has a specific belief that he is not a cameraman or a more general one like he doesn't know how to do this. This can definitely be paralyzing. But it's not true.

What I would say is track down a mini-DV camera and begin filming the meetings yourself. If nobody has a camera he can borrow, it is possible to rent them affordably in almost every major city. Take that footage and put it on youtube. All of a sudden, he's got a youtube channel on dowsing at very minimal expense.

If the meetings are happening in other cities, put an ad on craigslist or call a local college. There are abundant affordable resources out there that are available now via the internet in a way that is unprecedented. Go on google!

This leads to my second step in dissolving the wall. Usually, it involves learning something. It may be as personal as learning to believe that you can or it may be more concrete like learning how to write a business plan (there are plenty free samples on-line if you look).

I know in my core that we are all capable of learning anything if the motivation is there.

Recently, my toilet started running but the expense of hiring a plumber plus the belief that I could never, ever, no way ever fix it myself held me hostage for days. Finally, worry about my water bill motivated me to call the plumber for an estimate. When he saw the problem, he told me to go to Home Depot. They had a kit, he said. I felt a pang of fear in my gut. Realizing life was telling me that I had to do this myself, I took the plunge and drove to the store. Sure enough, they had a kit there for $20. At home, I followed the directions which were surprisingly straightforward. Empty the water from the tank, remove the broken fill valve, install the new one. Exhilaration is the only word to describe the feeling of that first, successful flush.

For those of you out there who are not afraid of your toilets, this may not seem like a big deal but to me, it was life-changing because it was empowering. (More power is always handy) Although you may not be stopped by plumbing issues, what is stopping you and what do you need to learn to make your dreams come true?

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

1. Write down 10 (or more) possible next steps that need to be taken to move your idea forward.

2. For each step, write down 5 reactions that come up, both positive (I can do this and when you will do it) and negative (I can't because...)

3. Write down 1 thing you need to learn to move your idea forward and how/where you will learn this. Remember, Google is always a great place to start.

4. Post your response, what did you learn from doing this exercise?

Keep creating!

Susie Arnett

Idea Coach