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Directors’ Take – James Court shares his insight into the world of entrepreneurship…

Don’t let the Chimp stop you…It’s never too late to turn your dreams into reality

As a NatWest Local Enterprise Manager (LEM), I am fortunate to meet and work with some amazing minds and brilliant people all with a common goal – to turn their dreams into a reality. From one-to-one mentoring to facilitating events and opening doors for new businesses (or established), my goal is to ensure people hit theirs – and there is no better feeling than to see people and businesses succeed, because you’ve given them a helping hand along the way.

So, when is the right time to turn that dream into a reality? My answer is always the same…TODAY! As humans we’ve all got that ‘Chimp’ on our shoulder, (for those of you who have read The Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters, you’ll know what I’m talking about, for those who haven’t, this book could quite possibly change your life) telling us we can’t do something because….or now is not the right time, because… . But you absolutely can do whatever you want to do, when you want to do it, because why shouldn’t you fulfil your dream?  

There’s no doubt about it, summer is my favourite time of year. Why? Because the days are longer, and the weather is generally a whole lot better than the rest of the year! Summer lifts our moods, we’re more sociable, and it fills us with positivity. In my opinion this is a great time of year to give your dreams, plans and future goals the space to grow and develop into something exciting and hopefully profitable.

Whether it’s a personal or a business goal, the ability to allow ourselves to dream and build our vision for a brighter future can feel like “pie in the sky?” Fanciful? Something for wacky and creative people who have no responsibilities?… WRONG!

One of the most inspirational business thinkers and entrepreneurs of the last 75 years, never allowed himself to stop dreaming, so much so that he created a process that is still used today. His name is Walt Disney.

Walt Disney devised a creative process that is (in my opinion, pure genius…)

I’m introducing this to you to help you find a way or a process and focus, to make sense of what you’re carrying. Perhaps you’ve committed your ideas and goals to paper, told a close friend or business partner, however, you’re not sure of how you bring it to life. So, let’s learn from one of the best that ever was…

For a new project Walt Disney created three separate rooms or spaces,

1) The Dreamer

2) The Realist and

3) The Critic

Each room and the people within it were initially deliberately kept apart.

The Dreamer – the room where no idea was off limits.

No plans or thoughts considered too outlandish, they had free reign to let their imaginations run wild – without any hindrance.

They would allow themselves to almost become child-like again and just think of the most fantastic ideas possible! (I would have loved to be a fly on the wall in that room!)

The Realist – the room where the ideas were analysed for the ‘how’.

‘How’ could they apply this? What plans, timescales and resources would they need to make them happen?

How could practical sense be made of an idea and then potentially be taken forward

The Critic – the room for any weak spots in the ideas to be identified.

Why wouldn’t this work? What’s potentially missing? What were the weaknesses?

Conclusion – The result of these three processes was distilled down to the projects that Walt Disney would then work on. By keeping the processes apart, Walt Disney was able to keep the dream process alive and not instantly shot down by the critic stage, yet all stages were integral and still are to this day.

This process fills me with inspiration, a proven way of allowing our business ideas and personal goals to have potential to be more than just a thought and a maybe.

I wonder if you’re reading this, and you have a dream inside of you that is not yet dead. A vision for your future? Maybe it’s become dormant or your feel like you haven’t been able to pursue it because of circumstances? Maybe you told the wrong people/person and they made you feel like you wouldn’t succeed?

Give yourself permission to allow your dreams to run free again and then figure out your “how?” How am I going to make this happen? How am I going to move closer to that thing that I laid down? I’m now ready to pick it back up again and run at it with everything I’ve got.

There’s that great saying, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” well I’m saying it loud and clear (and you should too!) that your vision can become a reality if it’s given the right planning, focus and resources.

Never let anyone tell you that you can’t do it if there is potentially a way to make it happen!

It’s ALWAYS good to dream, just imagine what many of our childhoods would have been like if Walt Disney had stopped?

James Court is a board director of Exeter Chamber and Local Enterprise Manager for NatWest.