One of my favorite mental exercises is “What If?”

It’s exactly what it sounds like. You set aside time to imagine, in detail, something that could have a game-changing impact for you. It might be something that you haven’t really thought about because you’re too busy or you don’t think it’s practical.

By asking yourself “What If?” you give yourself permission to stretch your horizons. What if you could make a major difference in your life, your company, your church or your world?

It is not easy to explore “What If?” ideas. Doing so takes effort. It is not only thinking about possibilities. It requires you to specifically describe what your opportunity looks like, how it behaves and what kind of impact it could have.

What Is the Opportunity?

For example, what if you didn’t have to drive to your doctor’s office for a checkup? What if you could talk to your doctor via a live video feed, all from the comfort of your own home? Several companies are working to make this a reality.

The first part of “What If?” is defining the opportunity or issue at hand. Here we want the convenience of seeing a doctor from our house, saving time and effort. In addition, doctors can see more people without investing in large multiroom buildings, potentially lowering their costs.

What Would You Need?

Now we begin to identify what might be needed to make the “What If?” scenario work. What kinds of resources would be required?

In the example above, high-quality camera and display equipment would be required at the doctor’s office and in the home. The doctor would need the ability to open a secure telecom line and a system for scheduling patients. So far, every item is available in some form in the current marketplace.

 What Could Stop You?

Next, we identify everything that would derail the “What If?” concept. Our goal is to understand those items that either make the concept hard to do, or that would drive costs up.

Our teledoctor example would require patients to invest in the proper camera and streaming video services. Doctors would need an application built to upload the video. Doctors would also want the ability to expand or enlarge images, so they could get a closer look when necessary.

The final set of needs would center around getting patients’ vitals— pulse, blood pressure, etc. These are metrics that can’t be assessed through visual inspection, so we would need specialized equipment, which might not be available or might significantly raise the price.

Once we have collected all of the data we can begin to outline potential solutions, understand the investment required, secure the infrastructure and begin to construct the concept pilot.

“What If?” is a great exercise for every leader to participate in. It will challenge the boundaries of your mind using a real-world opportunity.