“Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.” - Habakkuk 2:2 (KJV)
And the more I thought about it, the more I realised how vital this is when we want to achieve anything in life.
It’s not just about having ideas. It’s about putting them down.
Because the truth is, if you have an idea and you don’t write it down, there’s a very good chance you’ll forget it. And if you forget it, you may never get the opportunity to execute it.
Write the Vision
I have an idea for a new business at the moment, and it has been running through my head.
I was talking about it recently, and the response I got was basically, “This girl, you have started again.”
And I said, “Just watch me. Watch me transform this business into something big.”
But as Habakkuk 2:2 came to me this morning, I realised something.
I need to actually sit down and write the vision for that business.
Because if I don’t write it down, I could forget parts of it. If I forget it, I can’t execute it. And if I don’t execute it, then the billion-pound idea sitting in my head could simply go down the drain.
And this doesn’t apply only to business.
It applies to almost everything we want to achieve in life.
Sometimes God puts something in your heart. Sometimes an idea comes because of the gifts, talents and skills God has already given you. But because you don’t write it down, you let it disappear.
Then one day, you see somebody doing something similar and say:
“Oh my goodness! I thought about this!”
“I had this idea!”
“I wanted to do something like this!”
Yes, you thought about it.
But what did you do with the thought?
And writing things down doesn’t necessarily mean carrying a notebook everywhere.
I write things on my phone all the time. I speak to my AI all the time too. If an idea comes to me, I can pull out my phone, use speech-to-text and start documenting everything running through my mind.
The important thing is: capture the idea.
But the Bible doesn’t stop at write the vision.
It says:
Make it plain.
Make It Plain
I think this part is incredibly important because writing an idea down and understanding how that idea could actually work are two different things.
You can start with:
“I want to create this.”
Great.
Now, how?
This is where research comes in.
If the idea is complex, technical or simply something you’ve never done before, making it plain means breaking it down until you begin to understand it.
How would this work?
What would I need?
What don’t I know?
What do I need to research?
Has somebody done something similar before?
What needs to change?
And something interesting happens when you start doing this: the idea evolves.
I have a very iterative mind. I can start by saying I want to design something, and by step ten, what I’m designing looks completely different from what I imagined at step one.
And that’s not necessarily because the original idea was bad.
It’s because I’ve made it plain.
I experienced this recently with something as simple as a set of question cards.
My original idea was to create a card with four questions, and initially I wanted the questions to follow a repetitive structure.
That was the starting point.
But then I wrote it down.
I could see the questions.
I could read them.
I could move things around.
I could ask myself, Does this actually work? Is this interesting enough? What else could I do?
By the end of the process, I had four individual questions, bonus questions and a completely different concept from the one I started with.
The idea had become far more interesting.
That’s what making it plain can do.
When you can see an idea, you can interrogate it. When you can interrogate it, you can improve it.
The process becomes easier when what was previously running around your head is sitting in front of you.
And this becomes even more important when you’re dealing with something technical or difficult.
You might start at A thinking, This is what I want to achieve.
Then you begin researching.
How does this work?
What happens if I do this?
What would I need to make that possible?
And as you answer those questions, A might become B, then D, then F.
By the time you’ve truly made the vision plain, you may arrive at G.
And G might be significantly better than A.
That’s the beauty of iteration.
Writing captures the idea. Making it plain develops the idea.
And once you understand what you’re trying to do, you can begin to work out how you’re going to do it.
Which brings us to the next part of the verse:
“…that he may run that readeth it.”
Now, Run With It
Writing the vision is not the end.
Making it plain is not the end either.
Eventually, you have to run with it.
You need a plan.
How are you going to execute this idea?
What do you already know how to do?
What do you need to learn?
Who do you need to speak to?
What is the first step?
Sometimes you already have the skills and talent required to execute the idea. Other times, execution means learning something new.
I was speaking to someone over the weekend who regularly helps me with my events business. I told her, “You should learn face painting.”
We regularly need face painters for children’s parties, so my thinking was simple: instead of continually paying someone else to provide the service, why not learn the skill and create another income stream for yourself?
Her immediate response was, “Where can I learn face painting?”
I told her I would check.
I did the research and found somewhere she could learn.
But now, I’m waiting for her to come back to me and ask, “Did you find that place for me?”
Because there’s another lesson there.
Nobody can want your vision more than you do.
Someone can advise you. Someone can point you in the right direction. Someone can even do some of the research for you.
But eventually, you have to run with it.
What Idea Is Sitting in Your Head?
So this week, whenever an idea comes to you, write it down.
You don’t necessarily have to execute it immediately. Some ideas are for now; others may be for later.
But capture them.
Then go back and make them plain.
Research them. Question them. Break them down. Develop them. Allow them to change as you understand them better.
And then ask yourself:
How can I execute this?
Turn the thought into something written.
Turn what you’ve written into something clear.
Turn what is clear into a plan.
And then run with it.
I pray that as you go into this week, God goes with you. May He give you wisdom concerning the ideas He places in your heart and help you execute everything He has called you to do.
May you see the hand of God in your life more than ever this week.
Have a fantastic week. ❤️
With Love,
Ayo
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