…and beyond!

Well the canoe is now packed away for winter, thermal socks are now definitely required for dog walking, and I have even managed to buy a few Christmas presents – so progress has been made since the last blog! At home we’ve been thinking a little about 2012 – well the first 6 days of it anyway when we will be enjoying some Egyptian sunshine we hope. We plan to take some time while we’re away to sit down (hopefully over a nice bottle of wine!) and think about what we want 2012 to be like for us as a family. A pal told me a couple of years ago that she and her husband take time to review the year gone by and write a list of what they want to do and achieve in the year to come. I think this is such a great thing to do and having tried it ourselves we have enjoyed the benefit of planning great days out, holidays and other things we want to do and then making sure they happen.

We’re doing the same in the business too – are you? In the last blog post I talked about reviewing the year just gone – did you take some time out to do that? I hope so and I hope you found it useful. So now to the future. The next step is to build a “big picture”, a vision of what you want 2012 to be like. Then after that we can start generating those smart objectives and identifying the actions required to achieve those big goals you have.

There are all sorts of ways that you might create your own vision and I don’t presume to suggest that I know what will work best for you – but if you are seeking inspiration try a few of these really simple ideas.

One great place to start is to explore all of your senses:

1. Get creative – literally DRAW a picture of what it will look like – or create an image using photos, newspaper clippings or anything else that appeals to you. If you are really artistic make a model or other visual representation of the successes of 2012 for you.

2. Imagine what you will see if you achieve all of your goals – will it be a yacht on the ocean, a brand new office painted purple?

3. Ask yourself what will I hear? What sort of things will people be saying to me and what will I be saying to them?

4. Imagine what it will feel like to achieve your dreams – consider your emotions and thoughts and literally what you might be feeling physically.

5. A further stretch is to imagine what success will taste like. Will it be champagne bubbles, that night out at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant or fish and chips on the seafront – what do you want?

6. And don’t forget to consider what success smells like – do you love the smell of money, will it be the new leather smell of your first brand new car, or the lilac bush outside the window of your new home? Use all of those senses to create a really strong picture for yourself of what you want to achieve in 2012. Make sure it is exciting, vibrant and inspirational to you- then embed it firmly so that you can call upon it whenever you need a reminder of what you are working hard to get to.

Other ways to create that vision are to ask those you trust and love to help you create it. What are their views, how do they see the future? Talk it out and create a shared image. Be inspired by their goals too. If you get stuck then try moving to a different environment, take inspiration from a walk outdoors, distract yourself by doing something different for a while, energise yourself with some exercise, get creative in the kitchen or decorating, talk to someone else, play loud music, or anything else you can think of to inspire you! Above all else – have fun creating the image of what YOU want your future in 2012 and beyond to look like!

If you want any other hints and ideas then we’re brimming full of them – give us a call! Look out for the next blog post which looks at turning this vision into something concrete – setting those objectives and making those new year resolutions.

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