Far from being a problem, talking ahead of yourself can actually be very useful. By setting yourself future goals that many people deem unrealistic, you actually bring them closer to reality. As I am fortunate enough to have talented teams working on these ideas, talking about them publicly sometimes gives them an extra incentive to reach their goals even faster. It can also bring to the table potential investors and in the case of international expansion – local partners.

I find it hard to stop my brain from churning through all the possibilities facing me at any given time. If you are the same, harness this restless energy into positive action. Give your team real encouragement to break down barriers and achieve what others perceive as impossible. As the great actress Audrey Hepburn said: “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!”

We have found a lot of the best examples of this come from the most unlikely of sources – April Fool’s. We have really embraced the annual tradition of elaborate pranks at Virgin. If your company doesn’t join the fun they are missing out. April Fool’s showcase the human side of businesses, highlight the spirit of innovation and – most importantly – put a smile on people’s faces. In the past we have convinced people we bought Pluto, launched Virgin Volcanic to explore the world’s most active volcanoes and even flew a UFO over London.

One of my favourites was the time we introduced new Virgin Atlantic glass-bottom planes to fly over Scotland. The concept caught the world’s imagination and there was overwhelming support to make it happen. So we immediately set to work trying to turn it from fiction to fact. While glass-bottom planes don’t look practical due to the luggage below, installing giant windows in the roof of the plane for stargazing at night and beautiful vistas in the day does look plausible. Since we will be taking people to see the Earth from space with Virgin Galactic, who is to say something similar couldn’t be done on planes as lighter glass technology develops? We discussed the possibilities for the future with manufacturers and will keep you posted! Regardless, it is an excellent example of taking a seemingly unreachable dream and trying to make it real.

What’s more, these daring attempts to create something new remind people of a company’s adventurous spirit and commitment to disrupting stale industries. When we partnered with Google to launch Virgle – a business dedicated to creating a human settlement on Mars – some sceptics guessed it was an April Fool. However others including some news agencies wanted to broadcast the news and many in the Las Vegas audience where we unveiled it were queuing up to join the first flight.  A few years later when we announced Virgin Galactic lots ofpeople thought that was a prank too. On the contrary, we are on the way to making commercial space flights a reality.