We’re in mid-December. It’s about the time when people start looking ahead to the year to come. But have you noticed that 2010 will be a special year? We’re about to enter a new decade. Now is the right time to look beyond the coming year and instead take a long-term view. Why? People tend to grossly overestimate what they can do in the short run — and to hugely underestimate what they can do in the long run. In today’s article, let me invite you to envision your future, and to start planning how you can actually make it happen. You may approach the three exercises either from the perspective of a business leader or a proactive individual.

1. Imagine your Vision 2020

In the first step, gain a better understanding of the essence of your being, and paint the mental image of your future in the year 2020. Do this by contemplating the following five Xploration-Questions:

1. Who are you? What business are you in?

2. What do you do? What’s your purpose, your raison d’être?

3. What is your vision 2020? Where do you want your business to be in 10 years from now?

4. What trend waves are you riding that support your vision?

5. What makes you the “only” company in your industry? What is the one thing that differentiates you from all others?

When you envision your future, be bold. Starbucks founder Howard Schultz is right: “Who wants a dream that is near-fetched?” So in the words of Les Brown: “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will land among the stars.”

2. Plan your actions to move toward your vision 2020

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them,” recommended the American essayist Henry David Thoreau. After you have gained a better understanding about where you want to be in 10 years from now, it’s now the time to roughly plan your actions that will take you to your desired destination. Do this by using a simple Action-Tool that I’ve developed for our X-IDEA Toolbox, the 5W2H Action Framework:

Get a blank sheet of paper that is at least A4 size, and put it in landscape mode. Create a table comprising 7 columns, and write in the column headers the question particles What-Why-Who-When-Where-How-How much. Then, start listing your first strategic action that will set you on the course toward your desired destination in the What column, and then write your answers to the other questions into the same line:

• What? What exactly do you need to do? List an important action that needs to be taken. For example, “Open a sales office in Singapore.”

• Why? Why is this action critically important for achieving your vision? Why can’t you just skip it? The crucial Why-Question ensures that you won’t waste time, money or effort on activities that are not mission-critical. For example, “It is vital to have a sales presence in Singapore because most Multinational Corporations (one of our target client groups) have their Regional Head Office in either Singapore or Hong Kong (where we have our main base).”

• Who? Who is the best person to be in charge of this action? Who else is involved here? For example, “I am in charge here. I will activate my entrepreneurial network in Singapore to explore office sharing opportunities and recommendations of talented sales people.”

• When? When to start (and end) this action? When do related actions need to be started and completed? For example, “We will start the process in July 2010 and will have established a presence by September 2010, so that we can start marketing our business from Q4 2010 onward.”

• Where? Where will the action take place? What other locations are involved? For example, “The action will take place in Singapore, and our Hong Kong Office is also involved in the process.”

• How? How exactly will this action be activated? For example, “Get information on the most beneficial legal form for the sales office. Identify a cost-effective corporate service provider for the legal set-up of an entity. Place job ads on online job websites, then interview and hire suitable sales staff. Find and rent a well-located and cost-effective office location. Train sales people on our service and solution offerings, and join the first sales calls.”

• How much? How much will this tentatively cost? Example: “Estimated set-up cost of SGD 20k plus monthly costs of SGD 10k (excluding sales commissions). Numbers are rough estimations and need to be confirmed with Singaporean network partners.”

Once you have gone through all 5W2H-Questions, move to the next action, and continue the process for as many strategic actions that you can conceive as being necessary to propel you forward toward your desired destination. Keep your thinking fluent as you jot down necessary actions; you can fill the gaps in your action grid later, as you may need to extract additional information for some of the items (especially concerning the costs that relate to a “How much”-question).

3. Map out your journey

Finally, visualize your intended strategic actions in a basic Strategic Road Map. To do this, get yourself a large flipchart-sized piece of paper, and put it into landscape format. Make a time line from 2010 to 2020, whereby you map out the first 3 years (2010–2012) in quarters, the next 3 years (2013–2015) in half years, and the final years (2015–2020) in years. Now list all the What-Actions from your 5W2H-Action Framework in your simple Strategic Road Map, add all identified trends, and imagine and describe what your business will look like by the end of each year. Voilà — here is your way forward toward realizing your vision 2020. Now all you need is the determination to move forward, in line with American writer Earl Nightingale: “All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.”

Conclusion: Renowned Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said: “A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.” We are on the verge of entering a new decade. As a business leader (or proactive, self-actualized individual), take your first step toward your vision 2020 by taking the time in the coming weeks to imagine your desired future and then plan the journey ahead.

© Dr. Detlef Reis 2009. This article was published in parallel in the Bangkok Post under the same title on 17 December 2009.