You are reading this because your story is a version of what all entrepreneurs eventually encounter. It goes like this…

You have an idea and you’ve got a great feeling about it. Then you receive more insight from others and work out practical solutions to obstacles you encounter. And then you decide that, yes, you’re going to make it happen.

Now, you are in the middle of it all, and not everything is as expected; something feels wrong. You are busy, things happen and there are results, but they are not what you wished for, or even realistically expected.

If this feels familiar, you need to examine a usually hidden underlying cause. Something that, by the simple act of being aware of it, can allow you to change everything for the better.

Why Are You Going Off Track?

What is this pesky issue hiding somewhere in your execution?

It's the gap between the essence of your idea and its implementation. Essence is what it really is, and what makes your idea work and do its magic. Execution, well, that you already know - it’s where the symptoms of the gap manifest themselves.

We all love our idea. We invest time and effort in thinking, shaping, polishing, and making our idea the best it can be.

Afterwards, we start executing - making it real. During this complex process, we leave our idea behind. The idea is still part of us, but life takes over. We are busy; we have many things to do.

In each area of implementation, there are best practices, and people executing them who have their own ideas on how things should be done. It becomes very hard to keep the execution connected to the idea, and soon you are off track.

A gap, or more likely multiple gaps, appear between your idea and what you are actually doing to make it real.

What Should You Do?

You need to do a gap audit.

First, articulate the essence of your idea. Then, check this essence against all of your activities. In each area of execution, ask yourself, “is what I’m doing congruent with the essence of my idea?”

Write down each gap you find and decide how far off your execution is in that area, compared to the essence of your idea. Afterwards, use the following to help you decide what to do:

If you find only a few gaps, and they are all small in nature, you are doing well. This is normal. You will always have tension between the idea and its execution.

If you have many gaps, but they are all small, it’s a hint. You are repeatedly forgetting what your idea is all about when making decisions. It’s easily cured by realigning yourself with your idea at all times.

If you have only few gaps, but they are quite large, that’s not so easy to correct. You went way off the right track in some areas of execution. You need to stop what you are doing in those areas and start from scratch. Or, you may find that one of these areas is not really necessary.

The worst case is when you have many large gaps. This usually means your idea is simply not good enough. Your idea does not have the power to keep you and others on track. You need to either go back to the drawing board or drop it.

When you are aware of the fact that you have “your idea”, and “its execution”, and that the two are never 100% the same, you can easily be on guard and keep your execution on par with your idea, making sure it’s on the right track to success.