As I sit down to write my blog, I often have a pretty clear direction of where I want it to go. I know what key points I want to hit and I know how I want to leave the audience feeling. But as I begin to write, that clear direction dissipates, my mind travels faster than my hands can type and before I know it, I’m a few paragraphs in and have completely derailed in my plan.
When I first started my career in writing, this would leave me frustrated. How could I get so off track so quickly? Why was I struggling so much to keep my mind focused on the goal? I’d delete what I had written and start over, sights set once again on the message I had set out to create.
Now, a few years into my career, I’ve learned not to delete, but to save. I’ve gained a better understanding of how powerful those quick thoughts put down on paper by rapidly drifting fingers can be. I’ve learned to embrace the misspellings, keep the weak sentences and look past the grammatical errors in these first drafts. Because what I’ve realized is the process of creation, the journey of writing is when your best ideas come out.
Business and marketing strategy is no different. While you often start out with an ultimate goal of what your next marketing project will look like and the direction your business will go in the coming year, your journey of getting there will often reveal new ideas, better paths and more innovative solutions.
Embrace it.
What might have looked like the best solution when you started may no longer be ideal as situations change and new ideas are brought about. Be open to hearing different perspectives, embrace the crazy ideas that come out of brainstorming sessions, never stop your research and explore what scares you.
Part of learning and growing is realizing there are many paths that will take you to your goal, but it’s also important to understand that your goal can shift and change overtime. Allow yourself to be open to that change and let the journey along the way guide you where you want to go, in your business, you career and your life.
