Life! By Design_ 6 Steps to an Extraordinary You - Laura Morton [61]
I don’t know about you, but I am the type of guy who likes to know exactly where I’m driving. It makes me uncomfortable when I don’t have a GPS system or directions from MapQuest to get me from point A to point B. Think about a vision board as your personal GPS system that shows you each step you’ll have to take to reach your destination.
I encourage using a vision board for each of the Core Seven areas of your life because it answers who you need to be, what steps you need to take to meet all of your goals, and what you need to create to have your vision show up in your world.
Specifically, a vision board can help you answer questions such as:
What would happen along the path toward meeting the man or woman of your dreams?
What milestones would occur along the way to achieving your ideal weight?
—to achieving your ideal professional position?
—to achieving the contribution you want to make to your community or charity?
—to completing a specific task, finishing a certification, or—what the heck—writing a bestselling book?
Mike Vance told me a story about Walt Disney and the legend of his secret wall. Allegedly, Disney used to hang up sketches and ideas he had for new companies, products, characters, and rides on a top-secret hidden wall in his office. It was a private place where the dreamer could dream. I think everyone should have a secret wall because it provides a place to display your dreams, regardless of how crazy or big they may be.
My secret wall is in my home office. I constantly display all the things I want to accomplish in a visual way that clearly states, This is my intention, this is where I’m going, and this is what I’m working on to make it happen. It’s in my face every time I walk through the door. My vision board maps out the milestones, as I see them, unfolding in my mind from beginning to end. A vision board doesn’t mean that all of these milestones will occur. It gives you an incentive to reach for each of them, but by no means should it be viewed as a failure if that doesn’t happen—unless, of course, you failed to take the proper action, set it into motion, and do whatever it took to get you there.
My vision board for this book looked like this:
Assemble a great team.
Create the outline for the book.
Meet with publishers and sell the book.
Celebrate the signing of publishing contract.
Write the book.
Begin premarketing.
Successfully sell book in presales via the Internet and other channels.
Begin book tour and connecting with thousands of people inspired to live By Design.
Do publicity.
Celebrate making bestseller list with team.
Keep your vision board in your office, your bathroom, on a small piece of paper that you carry around with you, or wherever you will be inspired by the constant reminder of what you want and what you’re committed to. As I meet my goals, I revisit my vision boards to make adjustments. I have one-, three-, and five-year goals that need to be tweaked from time to time. I assess each area of my life—where I’m at and what’s going on—ask for feedback from my wife, and do all of these exercises to keep my vision boards fresh, current, and relevant.
To be clear, just because you found a great model and mapped out a vision board, it doesn’t mean that the challenges, obstacles, and pitfalls won’t show up. Think of your vision board like the board game Chutes and Ladders. Do you remember that game? The goal was a race from beginning to end. Sometimes when you rolled the dice, you landed on a ladder that propelled you forward, past several spots, toward the finish line. But there were also times when you landed on a chute or a slide, which set you back multiple spots and meant you had to climb back up to where you had been. Keep in mind that your vision board is just like Chutes and Ladders. Sometimes you will catch a break, and other times there will be setbacks. The key is not to give up, to learn from the lesson and then get back to work on your plan.
One last