Let’s play a game of dominos. The only thing about this game is it takes place over the next 10 years and it’s not really a game. It’s my life. I will be 30 next month and I took the time to write down how I see the next 10 years of my life playing out–year by year.
As most entrepreneurial types, I have ideas for days. I even have a section of my Evernote notebook dedicated to such ideas that I have. The true difference (at least I believe and read) between a person that has numerous ideas and one that actually becomes successful comes down to execution. I’ve heard and read that ideas are “shit” but I don’t think that’s the case. I think ideas mixed with focus and and execution are where the Facebook, Ubers and Air Bnb ideas emerge. However, these don’t usually start by trying to change the world.
They start by just solving a problem. A small problem usually.
But how do you solve that problem. The answer for me is setting up a game of dominos. This past Thanksgiving, my father taught myself and my cousins how to play but I’m not talking about those dominos. I’m talking about the dominos where you hit one and all of them fall over step-by-step.
As the girl from the video said, it took 25 hours over 8 days to accomplish what she did in the video and that’s what it takes to line up dominos to topple over. It takes time, patience and dedication.
It took me really doing a lot of self-evaluation over the past 10 or 11 years from understanding that I didn’t want to be an attorney and I wasn’t really a good editor. It took me really doing a lot of self-reflection and doing an honest assessment of who I am and what I do well. It’s not something that happened over night and I’m still in the process of laying down the dominos. The good thing though is I have the vision for how I want to execute and as I said on Facebook, “the table is set.”
Now it’s time to get ready to flick the first one.
