The most famous quote in hockey is that: “Don’t go to where the puck is. Go to where the puck will be.”

We were watching Kevin Smith: Too Fat for 40 on Netflix this weekend.

Kevin Smith is a hero of mine.

He is the embodiment of the 21st century media ideal. True to himself and transparent as hell.

He tells a story of waking up after opening night of Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)

He really wanted that movie to push him into the big leagues instead of making “another Kevin Smith movie that grosses $30 million.”

Opening night made $2.2 million. Right on track to make $30 million.

He talks about how depressed that made him. It made him reconsider himself as a director.

Rocky pointed out how crazy that is.

Here’s a guy who made:

• Dogma
• Chasing Amy
• Clerks

He’s on his way to make another $30 million movie and he’s depressed.

This isn’t a story of some spoiled director that didn’t get his big money maker.

This is the story of life.

We all live this way.

We want to succeed. So we put ourselves in places where we can most succeed… where the puck is now.

The problem is, the puck may be there or it may not. But it’s the safe place to be. That’s where everybody goes. So that point becomes intensely competitive and not nearly as valuable as it was at first.

The irony is that running towards where success is now decreases your chance of being successful.

If you watch the finance channels on cable and do what they tell you to do that day you are too late. They don’t forecast the future. They tell you what happened that day and then make it sound like that’s what you are supposed to do now.

• You buy real estate when people tell you not to.
• You sell real estate when they tell you to buy.
• You buy a gas guzzling car when gas is $4.50.
• You buy a vacation home in Panama.

You go to where the puck will be.

Now. Will you get it wrong? Of course you will.

You aren’t a fortune teller. You only have experience.

If you don’t understand how a particular market works then stay away. You are just blindly skating around the ice.

But I’m here to tell you, everybody is an expert at something.

You know a lot about something:

• Video games
• Plumbing
• Construction
• Accounting
• Social media
• Web design

Go to where the puck will be in your area of expertise.

If you want to be great. If you want true success. Go to where you think the puck will be.

You could get it really wrong. But you could also get it really right.

Kevin Smith was just trying to make a movie he thought people wanted to see with “Zack and Miri.”

It’s true. They did want to see it, once. But what do they want to see now? What does he want to write now?

Be creative. Free your mind.

What’s the matter with your industry today? What will make it better tomorrow?

Go there.

That’s what a visionary does.