I have a client that asked if I wouldn’t mind if we held our meeting on his new yacht, as he had to take care of a few things. WOW… 165 feet of absolute luxury! As he was giving me a tour of the four decks I stopped him to ask… "When you were a kid growing up in the Keys did you ever imagine you would own something like this?" He looked at me, smiled and said… "As a matter of fact… I did. I would tell my dad and brother that I would one day own the biggest yacht on the dock… they would laugh at me!"

How many times have you laughed at big audacious ideas?

I read The Harvard Business Review Magazine article: HBR’S List of  Audacious Ideas for solving the world’s problems. What I found most fascinating were the results they featured. Think about how audacious these must have sounded in those times…

1. Eradicate smallpox

2. End war in Western Europe

3. Launch an all-sports TV network

It took audacity to think these ideas could be accomplished… but they were. And quite effectively I might add.

What could your imagination conjure up? What is outrageous, inconceivable? So why can’t you do it? OK… I can hear all your evidence. What would happen if you just had blind faith? Yes! BLIND FAITH… that your dream is achievable. Remember when you were young and dared to think of becoming a lawyer? A judge? A senator? A television commentator? A gladiator for the little guy?

I was working with a client who FINALLY coughed it up… "I think I would like to become a judge." She said softly and VERY reluctantly… It turns out that she couldn’t even let HERSELF think this big audacious idea. Find your big audacious idea and don’t pay attention to the sneers and laughter… especially the ones in your head.

What are your business development dreams? To land that giant client? To engage that famous client? To find that multi-million dollar client? To work on a land-mark case? To write a book? To be a commentator on CNN? 

How many times have you laughed at big audacious ideas? How many of those ideas were yours? Stop laughing and doubting… and start planning and believing!