Where will you be in 2027? We often overestimate what we can achieve in a year and seriously underestimate what we can achieve in a decade.
This mind-boggling “Chart of the Week” from Visual Capitalist is a great example of this. It shows how much Jeff Bezos’ Amazon has grown in the last 10 years.
At the end of 2006, all the publicly listed US department stores were worth more than $400 billion together. At the time, Amazon was worth $17.5 billion - less than 5% of that total.
Ten years later Amazon is now worth $356 billion, while everyone else is worth less than $300 billion. That list includes Walmart ($212.4b), Target ($40.6b), Best Buy ($13.2b), Macy’s ($11.0b), Kohl’s ($8.8b), Nordstrom ($8.3b), JC Penny ($2.6b) & Sears ($1.1b).
While Amazon grew 1,934% in value, Sears has fallen 96% in value and JC Penny has fallen 86% in value. That’s because, while Jeff Bezos had a 10 year plan in 2006 to ride the wave of online sales, the offline retailers not only had no plan, they dismissed him as serious competition.
But as Jeff said at the time, “Often times invention requires a long term willingness to be misunderstood.”
As we start 2017, what’s your 10 year plan?
What wave will you be riding?
And how long are you prepared to be misunderstood?
If you haven't got yourself a 10 year plan yet, why not start now? Create a story with 10 chapters, and make 2017 chapter one.
Today, there are more big waves than ever to ride. So choose yours and surf!
“In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm… in the real world all rests on perseverance.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Leave a Reply