Its not the first time I am thinking about this, it will not be the last.

Yesterday my partner told me about a new TV show format and technology that he considered a revolution in entertainment. Hearing this, I sent him an email from September 2005 sent by me to some international investors in different parts of the world, talking in detail about the technology I had developed and what kind of TV Shows could be done with it. My email was explaining in detail what my partner just told me. I was as always involved in several other ventures at that time and didn’t push it as hard as I should have done.

I am not the first nor the last person wasting a great idea. On the other hand the “Right Time, Place and Person” formula doesn’t always come friendly either.

A good Swedish friend of mine, during a party, read to us the executive summary of a business plan he made for “ring-tones” when cellular phones were a triviality even for Sweden. The plan was full of details, up to customized ring-tones for different callers and exclusive ring-tone tune production made by famous artists.

Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston may be the fathers of great ideas, slipping trough. Visicalc was the first spreadsheet software, developed when nobody knew what a spreadsheet was (Watch the Triumph of the Nerds). Everybody loved it and with no patent, Lotus came along. They empowered the “forward slash” in a webless era. Bill Gates was not impressed, Excel was born…

The truth is that what really makes an Idea reach its potential is the way its executed. This is not valid only for building huge business enterprises but simpler tasks like keeping your family together, excelling at a sport or reaching different personal goals. Here are some lessons I have learned:

1) Visualization

It all starts with that tiny spark in your head, and a distant rumble, like a huge flow of water stuck into a small canal. Pictures and sounds floating around numbers and formulas, the “perfect mess” that leads to that final Vision: its like having discovered Atlantis and looking at it from the top of a hill.

Everything is so perfect, so in place, so familiar… you are in love!
I wouldn’t exchange this feeling for anything in the world. The more you visualize, the more details you see, the more it makes sense.

Sometimes you hit a wall, bounce back and realize it was only a fling.

It’s crucial here to tell real love apart from passion and lust, as a mix-up would lead to total destruction!…

So flirt with your vision, go out on a few dates. Live together for a while before taking the big step. Its hard to see, when in love, what skeletons the vision might conceal.

Once you know each other well, its time to meet the family: look into the competition, if there isn’t any, there might be a reason! This is not a rule, but you should be more careful on uncharted land. The important thing is to gather as much info as you can and digest it well until you are certain she is the one…

2) Planning:

Once you are sure you want to pursue the final step, you start planning for the big event. It takes lots of research and opinions to complete it. Most of the wild guesses you will be forced to do during this period will generally turn wrong, be prepared for it.

Whichever Higher Force you believe in will be testing your commitment.

Some tools might come handy: Business Plan Pro is great to lay it out correctly. Aceproject is the first step to execution(and will come handy all the way to the end)

Once you have your numbers figured out and the tasks at hand, and still makes sense to move forward (this is where most ideas die before they take off) its time to find the physical resources you will need.

3) Teaming Up:

If I learned anything trough the years, is that “The Right People” is the most important aspect of anything you want to do in life. From personal to business. Not having the right people at the key positions is crucial for success, so if you can’t find them, keep looking. Don’t settle for the available, don’t settle for the affordable, every key position in the organization should feel (or actually be) partner of the organization.

Personally this has been the toughest lesson to learn trough the years but ask any successful or insightful executive in any business field in the world, they will tell you the value of having the right combination of people and what difference it makes.

I consider this the toughest of the steps into executing your dreams.

4) Persistence:

This is the time to get on the ring and start punching. Its no fair fight but as Rocky Balboa said:

“The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can GET hit and keep moving forward. How much you can TAKE and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done”

I can’t possibly add anything to that…

5) Followtrough:

This part we tend to forget, as after all the fights lost and won, no matter how many swings and hit and misses, we should keep at it. With time tough we tend to get sloppy, there is no more follow trough. I remember how annoying it was to hear that remark from my tennis teacher as a child. But Seth Godin explained that already so you better read it from him.

And if still doesn’t work, change track and keep trying. If you find out you can’t really execute just let go of that idea, release yourself from that burden, give it as a gift to the world and to who will be able to make something out of it. Be sure you’ll have many great ideas, be confident you can afford to be picky on which ones to stick to.

Sadok Kohen

It keeps surprising me how certain patterns never change throughout history when it comes to human nature.

It all started when the first ape understood how to use a club to hunt more effectively and the ape next to him used the same club to hunt the hunter and keep the prey. We tend to be very clever in finding the easy way out. Countless acts of redemption were always made in the name of a Higher Self, the man we “couldn’t” be.

You sin, you pay the priest. You commit adultery you pay the jewelery store. You are never there for your children, you pay the toy store. You eat to much, you pay the gym (and never go). You smoke, you pay insurance (and keep smoking). You don’t have time to care, you pay charity (and keep not caring)… You destroy the earth, you buy carbon offset!! (and keep DESTROYING).

You can actually calculate the value of the portion of the world you just destroyed and buy it back.

Not that I am against carbon offsetting as an end result. I am against the way carbon offsetting (like charity and several other examples) has become a currency were it should have become a place for people to go and reflect and mend the wounds inflicted, therefore taking responsibility for their actions and understanding where the problem really was. By doing this taking a step further to enlightenment and to become part of the “real” solution.

A very simple way to understand how our psychology works is to look at a little experiment they have done in a kindergarten. Parents were always late to pick up their children so the teachers decided to put a per hour fine on parents who were late. Guess what, the rate of being late drastically increased! Once “being late” had a price, parents decided they could afford it!

Can we really put a price on a disappointed child, or on health, or on nature ? Evidently the message out there is that we can. This is why the word sorry became so cheap that everybody could easily afford to say it, under ANY circumstances or even worse, they hire others to say it for them.

The solution, as always, lies inside us. The day we are not afraid to look, we’ll understand that Heaven’s not for sale…

Sadok Kohen