What if someone handed you a golden key and told you this key is for you alone, and that one day you will find a door to which this key will open, and that through this doorway you will be led to a life of wondrous magic?

What would you do? What would you say?

Would you think to yourself, “Wow, what a beautiful key” or, “I’d like to show this to all my friends?” Would you place it on your mantle as a great conversation piece, or simply drop it in a drawer and forget about it? Would you think of this person as an eccentric crazy person, or would you wonder if maybe there really was a door out there for you alone, that leads to a wondrous magical life for which only this key could unlock?

What, may you be asking, does this have to do with balance in business?

The answer is both subtle and powerful, because it speaks to the depth of knowledge we possess of ourselves. Are we a dreamer? Are we practical? Are we thoughtful? Are we pragmatic? Or, are we visionary?

By merely being willing to think of the possibility of someone handing us such a key and considering the vast universe that could open to us from unlocking the door, speaks to our willingness to consider new possibilities, explore new dimensions of thought, and expand our realm of understandings.

So the business take away is, how do we discover a new paradigm, a new business model, a better way of dealing with challenges, or a new way of looking at our businesses, if we keep applying the same level of thought that got us to where we are in the first place? What is the process by which we stretch our minds and our perceptions to look at things in completely new and different ways?

One way, as I have learned, is to envision my business and my life beyond even my wildest expectations or anticipations. Beyond even the beyond, and then beyond that, as if someone handed me a golden key and I just unlocked the door. Then I may stop and think, “Well I don’t want to be too busy” or “I don’t need to make that much money” or… and then I envision some more. Because if I can envision my world beyond the beyond, then I can envision it however I want. I can envision myself putting the key in the door, turning the key, unlocking the door, opening it, walking through the doorway, and then what would “magical” and “wondrous” look like?

It’s been said that we move towards that which we think about. So I’m choosing to think big. Why not? What harm could it bring? Yes, it can be a little scary to think this big, but also quite exhilarating, and, if we can stay in an expansive space for any length of time, we will actually find our perceptions and our understandings expanding, which will lead us to new business models, new paradigms, greater creativity, problem solving with ease, less fear, and much more fun and fulfillment.