When my wife and I celebrated a significant wedding anniversary a few years ago, we decided to visit Edinburgh for a long weekend. As we set out excitedly on our journey one bright, sunny morning, we closed the front door behind us.

A few hours later, we had successfully reached our destination, the suitcases were unpacked, and we were getting ready for our evening meal.

Whatever we set out to do in life, we need to know our destination and the specific actions we’re going to take, but we often jump to the detail and miss out the important middle step of working out how we’re actually going to do it.

In business terms, that means (a) having a clear vision or mission, (b) then having a strategy on how to implement it, and finally (c) creating a detailed action plan.

What about that romantic trip to Edinburgh? How did we actually get there? When we first thought about it, the obvious thing for us would have been to drive or fly. But by taking time to explore options that were outside our normal choices, we discovered we could travel direct by train in first class for the same price and door-to-door time as a standard flight.

And that was our anniversary weekend ‘strategy’; it meant that we arrived relaxed and well-fed, after seeing some beautiful scenery en route.

I encourage you to think beyond the obvious to work out how you are going to achieve what you really want to achieve, whether in your home life, job, career or business.