The Big Picture: The Roadmap to Your Dreams

The road to the startup world for any new entrepreneur is long, full of roadblocks and obstacles. With the challenge of orienting yourself, dealing with an influx of advice, and facing a new world with its own rules, the uninitiated can easily become overwhelmed if they don’t have a grip on what they want to accomplish.

The big picture is one of the ways that entrepreneurs can lay out their goals. These can then be broken down into smaller chunks or milestones, things that are more manageable and achievable in a span of a few months. These milestones can also be broken down into weekly tasks, and those chunks can be broken down again and again until we reach the level of the usual day-to-day tasks.

With this seemingly endless array of things and details to worry about, it’s no wonder that so many hopeful startups and individuals get caught up in the minutiae, drowning before they even have a chance to find their footing.

It never hurts to be invested and involved in various aspects of your startup, but you need to remember to step back and think – the big picture is an entrepreneur’s greatest asset.

Make Tough Decisions Easier

Besides being an opportunity to state your goals, the big picture can inform your business decisions. From deciding on what emails to read and write replies for to potentially relocating your business to another city, startups face choices that often feel impossible and frustrating. In the context of the big picture, however, these problems change.

Difficult choices suddenly seem easier when you think about whether it takes you closer to the big picture. Rather than responding to every demand that comes your way, reminding yourself of the big picture gives you the ability to step back and see the totality of your actions. By holding all of these tasks at a distance, you give yourself the room to be creative and find ways to solve problems more effectively. Not only does this make the workload more manageable, it keeps you from falling into a tiresome routine.

Stay Focused

While it might be easy enough to set a goal and frame it as the big picture, the real challenge comes in maintaining focus on it. If you want to succeed, the key is to stay focused and keep yourself from getting sidetracked.

Find a way to remind yourself of the big picture every day. Even if it’s something as simple as writing your ultimate goal down somewhere you can see it all the time. Keeping in sight will help guide your actions and stop you from getting sidetracked by the things that aren’t necessary.

Ultimately, the big picture isn’t simply a statement of your goals and desires – it’s a vision of your dreams. Entering the mindset of a successful entrepreneur means truly loving what you want to do and being prepared to make sacrifices in pursuit of the big picture. So go ahead and start dreaming.