What Is Your Platform?
The Second Plank of Your Bridge Across the Chasm
The second plank of your bridge across the chasm is the platform you choose or create from which you launch and sustain your journey of fulfillment, purpose, and vision. It is the platform from which you express your identity and all that that encompasses. It’s where you step onto the stage of life and make stuff happen.
There may be but one platform along the way, or there may be several; by choice or by necessity. Every platform represents an opportunity for growth, change, and impact.
What is your platform?
A platform can be a business model, your company, writing a book, a noble and worthy cause, or a foundation, to name but a few. The list goes on and on, because in the end the platform you choose is chosen to contribute to your greater purpose and vision.
Defining Your Platform (and Your Plan)
The Platform supporting your greater purpose and vision is defined from your plan. Having a plan is essential: not only to guide you on your journey, but also to create clarity in multiple areas of life.
“Plan” was eluded to in the prior article, Your Code of Life and Living (aka, The Code), which summarized your life operating system. It is within that system you create and live your plan. At the very core of The Code are seven (7) elements: Purpose, Identity, Vision, Enthusiasm, Energy, Focus, and Plan. It is that “Plan” element that defines your platform. So, we’ll expand a bit on the plan element here.
What you’re looking for is the result of the action, not the feeling, gratification, or distraction of doing something yourself!
The plan referred to in The Code is the outcome of your thoughtful and authentic analysis of what your purpose and vision are, what your identity is and needs to be, and most importantly, “how” you can fulfill these elements of The Code. As such, your plan is subjective and unique. This is a process you get to do that increases certainty of outcome.
Defining your platform requires clarity of what it is you want to achieve and why. The plan is the “how” part of it all. You may well identify multiple platforms that will suffice, but you must be cautious about selecting more than one. You can create a hybrid from multiple platforms if you can’t identity a suitable one to meet your needs. Or, you can just up and create one all of your own! This is all part of the process of creating clarity.
Your plan is a collection of four basic elements: Objectives, Means, Actions, and the Four R’s. Creating your plan is a crucial step in achieving a state of clarity: in your mind, and perhaps in the minds of others associated with your greater purpose.
One of the reasons some entrepreneurs struggle or fail is for absence of a plan. And that absence of a plan is all too often associated with the absence of purpose and/or vision.
The detailed process for creating your plan is beyond the scope of this article, but it’s relatively simple. Below is an outline of the parts of the process.
- Clearly define your purpose, vision, and identity as they are defined at this stage of your journey. Clarity is subjective. You don’t need absolute infinite clarity. You need sufficient clarity to give you confidence and clarity to move forward in the present moment.
- Determine the essential Objectives that support the attainment of the three elements in step 1. Objectives are strategic “goals,” such as establishing a consistent presence on a given social media platform, building a network of resources, attaining a degree or position, and so forth.
- Identify the Means by which the Objectives of step 2 can be achieved. Means are the tactical achievements. Education is an example of a Means. Education, in an appropriate form and with deliberate intent, is a “means” of attaining your objective of (fill in your objective here). Other example Means are focus of the content you publish, the influence level of people you seek for your network, launching a marketing campaign focused on a specific demographic, etc.
- Determine the essential Actions that must be completed in order to achieve the Means of step 3. A part of this action process is defining what must be done, by when, and by who. And the “who” is not always you! Even if you are a solo entrepreneur, use your innate resourcefulness to engage others who can help you. What you’re looking for is the result of the action, not the feeling, gratification, or distraction of doing something yourself!
- Results, Review, Revise, Repeat. The four ‘R’s” in the Action step are critical. Actions produce results, and those results flow upstream to Purpose, Vision, and Identity through Means and Objectives. Action results are reviewed to determine if they contributed to achieving the Means. Means results are reviewed to determine if they contributed to attaining the Objectives. Objectives results are reviewed to determine if they contributed to attainment of your Purpose, Vision, and Identity. Depending on the outcome of your review process, you then revise and repeat the process: Action, Results, Review, Revise, Repeat. The time period between reviews is based on your unique situation. It is suggested that solo entrepreneurs run this process weekly, and organizations run it monthly.
The process outlined above is powerful and simple. It doesn’t take long to do, and the payoff is significant. At the large corporation level the process becomes more complicated and longer, but facilitates cross-team communication and focus with minimal organizational drag: this is a topic for another time. For the solo entrepreneur or individual on a mission, it is an efficient, structured, fast, and direct way to gain clarity and focus.
It’s Not Always About Money, But …
Your platform need not be solely about money, but money most often is an essential tool and resource with which to advance and accelerate attainment of your greater purpose and vision. Money isn’t everything, but it can be the thing that makes the Thing possible!
Depending on your purpose, vision, and identity goals, your platform may only require your focus, time, and energy. These are resources and tools as well. Somewhere along the line, your investment of those personal internal assets will produce a benefit that most likely will lead to money – for someone. Might as well be you!
Your Platform Becomes an Extension of Your Identity
In as much as your platform is tied to who you are, what you believe, and how you are achieving your purpose and vision, it also becomes an extension of your identity. The platform you choose gets associated with you. Choose and nurture your platform well and wisely and it will reward you.
