Category: Motivation

How to Make a Vision Board

Keep Your Goals in the Forefront

Making a vision board is one of the best ways to get clear on your goals and keep them front and center in your daily life. Create a vision board.Making a vision board is one of the best ways to get clear about your goals and keep them front and center in your daily life. If your goals are part of your every day focus, then you are able to use them as a reference point in making decisions. If you want to publish a novel this year, then deciding between sitting in front of the television for a few hours in the evening versus sitting in front of the computer (or typewriter? or notebook with pen?) to write is made easier if you are reminded that your goal is publishing a novel. What facilitates this process of keeping your goals visible? A Vision Board.

What is a Vision Board?

Quite simply, a Vision Board is a board (physical or digital) that holds or displays pictures. Those pictures represent goals you want to achieve:

  • Obtaining something material, (like a new iPad)
  • Completing a project (like a kitchen remodel)
  • What your life looks like when you achieve your goal(s) (sipping drinks from the beach)
  • What you want your life to feel like (calm, peaceful, relaxed, healthy)

Any or all of the above. It’s your board, so you get to make the rules. If you are creating a physical board, then you need something to contain and display the pictures. I have used poster board and glued photos to it and I have done boards using a cork board and push pins which allowed some flexibility in arranging and changing the pictures if I needed to.

How to Make a Vision Board

How to Make a Vision Board
My business goals vision board for 2016

1. Gather Materials Needed

It’s pretty simple, really. You just need some picture sources (magazines, printouts, catalogs, photos, etc.), a background (poster board or cork board work great), a way to adhere them (tape or glue or push pins), and a place to hang your finished board.

2. Figure Out What Your Vision Board is About

Does your goal involve material things (car, iPod)? Are you trying to capture a mood or feeling (serenity, energy, abundance)? A place you want to visit (Ireland, Paris, Australia, Napa Valley)? Or a combination of these? Make a list so you can find the inspiring images, which is the next step.

3. Find Appropriate Images

Clip images from magazines or catalog, and/or download images from the web. Anything that inspires you to think about a particular goal. One of  my business goals is to offer weekend retreats for women on topics like Overcoming Fear, and Finding Your True Self. I have an image of women around a table enjoying a meal together, as that photo represents the sense of community I want my retreats to have. Additionally, I have the words “FEAR NOT!” clipped from a magazine ad that fit my retreat goal.

4. Lay Out Your Board

Now that you have a pile of images, you can arrange them any way you’d like on the cork board or poster board. Play around with this a bit to find an arrangement you’re happy with. Don’t spend too much time to perfect the layout as it’s more important to just get the images onto the board so you can begin to display it.

5. Look At It Every Day

Your board does no good if you set it in the back of closet, buried under out-of-season clothes. Put your board somewhere you will see it every day. It has to serve as a daily reminder of what your goals are, that way you will recognize opportunities that lead to goal achievement as well as be able to make goal-based decisions.

Now Go Do It!

To help you along, I’ve created a little video tutorial (see below) to walk you through the steps. I know that there are some of you who are still overwhelmed by the thought of actually doing a vision board. So I have created a How to Make a Vision Board booklet with step-by-step instructions, along with three layouts for you use with some ideas for things to put on the board.

Do vision boards work? Well, I have a picture of rolling green pasture that I put on one of my vision boards about two years ago to represent my bucket list item of going to Ireland. Guess who’s going to Ireland in June?!

Last year’s vision board captured the mood I wanted for the year: peaceful, calm, relaxing, healthy. I’d have to say that overall, those are words I would use to describe 2015, even though there were plenty of upheavals and uncertainties.

Are you ready to get started on YOUR vision board? Watch the video…

Power of the Sticky Note

Sometimes motivation comes in a little reminder you have posted around the house.

Daily Affirmations

I’ve taken to writing some daily affirmations on sticky notes and placing them wherever seems beneficial. After a while the conscious mind starts to ignore them (“that’s nothing new,” or “been there, read that!”), but the subconscious mind takes it all in – and that is key to giving the affirmation some traction. The other important factor is not letting your conscious mind disbelieve it. It’s okay for it to ignore or feel nonchalant about the affirmation. Better still if the conscious mind just believes it to be true and moves on. You don’t want the conscious mind contemplating how the affirmation is going to come true; details get worked out in the subconscious.

Post It Where You Can See It

So if the affirmation is “I choose to eat healthy,” then posting that on the fridge (or the snack cabinet or the dashboard of your car) creates a scenario something like this: at first your conscious mind is all over it – you contemplate choosing between the apple and the bag of chips (choose the apple). Eventually (and the amount of time varies by person and affirmation), you stop consciously reading the note, the the subconscious mind “sees” it and starts the process of encouraging a healthy food choice. You go for the cucumber slices before even considering the handful of chocolate candy. You crave the healthier choice because your subconscious is at work.

Put your daily affirmations to work for you! Use the sticky note.

How to Stop Procrastinating: Finished is Better Than Perfect

Hung Up on Perfect

I start a lot of projects; I don’t always finish them all. Sometimes I get bored or I “figure out” the project before it is completed and the project looses its appeal or I get distracted. Often I get hung up on perfect.

In my mind, I’m not a “perfectionist.” I don’t feel the need to be perfect or have everything be perfect. I do, however, often feel I could complete a project better if… I had more time, more money, more resources, more…. something. Lately I’ve been taking this problem – because it is a problem – head on. It’s time to stop procrastinating.

Let me just interject here that “project” has a fairly loose definition. It can be anything as mundane as cleaning out a closet to something way more interesting, like writing a book. Size and scope of the project seem to have little bearing on my ability to complete it!

Tactics to Stop Procrastinating:

1. Don’t get distracted: Keep the original goal in the forefront.

Why did I take on the project to begin with? Cleaning out my clothes closet is not on the “fun project” list, but I know I need to get rid of stuff that’s not being used. The “do it better” me wants to completely re-do the closet: new shelving, new hangers, new containers, and everything will look like it could be on the cover of a DIY magazine on organizing. “Realistic” me knows that just going through and pulling out the clothes I no longer wear (ever) and the things I no longer use (why did I buy that wide-brimmed hat?) will make a world of difference.

Unfortunately, “realistic” me walks into that closet and “do it better” me butts in within minutes. The trick is to keep “do it better” me in check. There is always more that can be done. And truthfully, until the closet is decluttered, you can’t know what the “right” closet organizers are. Furthermore, if any other unfinished projects emerge from the closet (that box of photos that should be scrapbooked, for instance), “do it better” morphs into “that’s more fun, do that instead” me.

No! Stand firm! Goal for this project is: get rid of stuff. If I keep reminding myself of that, then “do it better” me can sit in a corner and pout while “realistic” me tackles the goal.

2. Plan ahead to make the process smoother.

This is one with which I’m getting better. Nothing is more discouraging than being all pumped up about a project only to dig in and find you are missing something. It can be disastrous if that something is critical; or potentially enlightening if you figure out a way not to need that missing something. Either way though, it is frustrating and time consuming, both of which take away from “getting it done.” So take a moment to think about what you need in order to complete the project before you delve into the project itself.

3. Set time boundaries.

What is the amount of time that is appropriate for the project? For writing a blog post, I like to set aside a couple of hours. It should probably take less than that, but I feel that’s a reasonable amount of time. If the post seems to be taking much longer, than it either needs to be broken down into multiple posts (perhaps I have a lot to say?!), or it’s not ready yet (the words just aren’t flowing). I also have a time boundary in the sense that I set a deadline for when I want to post. Without that I am likely to put off publishing a post so I can tweak it a bit further. Nope. Have to get it done today. Which leads me to my fourth point:

Stop procrastinating: finished is better than perfect4. As is, is better than not at all.

Which is, of course, much like saying finished is better than perfect. Only this doesn’t have to apply to finished. My closet is better even if I only get to clean off one shelf. It’s not finished, but it’s better than not cleaning that one shelf at all. Publishing this post today, even if some part of me thinks that four tactics is somehow not as good as five (odd numbers are better, right?) and I’m sure with a little more time I could think of something else to add… Nope. It’s time to hit the “publish” button (as soon as I find an appropriate photo to accompany this post, of course).

[By the way, one can come back a year and a half later and tweak things in the post. Just saying.]

 

Overcoming Sedentary Inertia

In my last blog post, Inertia – Or What My Mother Calls “Lazy,” I discussed framing decisions around two questions:

  • what is the goal?
  • why do you have that goal?

If you can answer those questions, then you are firmly set to work towards achieving the goal. You have to know the answer in order to battle the inevitable force of Inertia, where it is much easier to “stay at rest” (literally or figuratively) than to self-apply a force to get you moving.

Keep the Goal Forefront in Your Mind Always
So imagine that you are going on vacation and you are starting on the drive to get to your vacation destination. If you have children, you know that not 10 minutes into the drive the question arises: “Are we there yet?” You also know that if it’s someplace you are really looking forward to going, your own excitement builds as you get closer. You are thinking about the destination all along the journey to get there.

It should be no different in working towards a goal. The goal is the destination, and if you’ve considered why you have that goal, the reason should be good enough to make you excited about reaching that goal. It’s a good thing to be thinking of that goal the whole time you are working on achieving it. We do need constant reminders about our goal.

I like to start my day with The Miracle Morning Life S.A.V.E.R.S.[affiliate link] I’ve been doing this routine for almost 3 months now, and it has completely changed my focus for the better. I get up in the morning and start my day with meditation/prayer, affirmations, visualization, personal growth reading, and journaling. For exercise, I either go to the gym for about an hour or do about 10-15 minutes of light to medium cardio. Then I’m truly ready to start my day. I have more energy, more focus; I’m happier and I feel amazing! [You can read more about my experience with The Miracle Morning; and learn more about Hal Elrod, author of The Miracle Morning.]

All those things I do, and all those positive results I have are directly affecting my ability to achieve my goals. That doesn’t mean I don’t run into the occasional bump, but I am able to power through it because I know that sleeping in an extra hour is only going to feel good for that hour. Getting up and doing my S.A.V.E.R.S. is going to make me feel good all day. The latter is the more valuable option.

Techniques to Put Your Goal Forefront

  • Create some affirmations. Say them everyday.
  • Create a vision board, or have some visual that represents your goal. Post it everywhere, and keep it on your phone (great as the wallpaper on your computer or phone!) Look at it everyday.
  • Get an accountability partner. You want someone who is encouraging, appreciates your goal and struggles to get there, and is willing to give you positive criticism. (Not yelling at you for eating the jelly doughnut while trying to loose weight, but rather gives you a stern, but encouraging talking to and cheers you for moving forward. Also not one who says, oh well, maybe tomorrow you won’t eat a doughnut!) Check in with him/her often enough to stay on track.
  • Know you will stumble on this journey. Prepare for this, but committing beforehand to stop and take a look at what caused the stumble and why. This is a learning and personal growth opportunity (good things!). Commit to seizing that opportunity rather than looking upon it as a failure or reason to give up.

It’s important to know what your goals are and why you have those goals, but it is equally important to remind yourself daily of those goals.

This post is part of a series:
Part I: Inertia – Or What My Mother Calls “Lazy”
Part II: Overcoming Sedentary Inertia

No Motivation – Or What My Mother Calls “Lazy”

No motivation? It's easier to stay in bed than get up and go to the gym. While that satisfies an immediate desire, it doesn't get you closer to your goal.

No Motivation

Inertia, also known as Newton’s First Law of Motion, “is a power of resisting by which every body, as much as in it lies, endeavours to preserve its present state, whether it be of rest or of moving uniformly forward in a straight line.” More simply put, if it’s not moving it won’t move unless something makes it move. And when you apply that to a person, my mother would call that “lazy.”

This is the law that makes the TV remote so appealing. Want to change the channel? Click! You didn’t have to get out of the chair and walk the less than ten feet to press a button on the actual television. Of course, if you are younger than 40, you probably didn’t even realize that there are buttons on the TV itself. And I’m sure that I’m not alone in suffering through a television program (or two) because the remote was on the other side of the room.

But my point is that without an outside force we’re likely to just sit still. Admit it, you’ve skipped lunch once or twice (or at least put off having lunch for an hour or two or three) because you were “really busy” at the computer. That computer time, of course, was actually spent writing one rather short paragraph for a report and then reading and posting on Facebook.

So what can make someone change their state of no motion?

Why get up early in the morning and head to the gym? It’s much easier (and warmer) to just stay in bed all snuggled under the comforter. To go the gym involves not only getting out of a warm bed, but getting dressed, driving to the gym, it might be crowded, that sweaty talkative guy might be there and I don’t like talking to him, I forgot to download the latest podcast and there’s no WiFi at the gym, and so on. Those are all immediate excuses – excuses that address the now of the matter, but none of those hold up against the big picture.

Why are you going to the gym in the first place? Whether your goal is to lose weight or be more fit or something else, you had an initial reason. Focus on that reason. Let that be your motivation. Pit every excuse against the reason: will staying in bed instead of going to the gym get me to my goal weight? Answer: going to the gym. Will going out in the blizzard to the gym or staying home get me to my goal weight? Staying home is safer, BUT doesn’t excuse you from working out. You can still do some push-ups and crunches at home. Get the point? The easier option is often not the answer. It’s much easier to stay in the warm bed than to get up and go to the gym; it just that it’s not the best solution to your health goal.

The Two Big Questions

This technique of framing decisions based on the long term goal works for any type of goal. The two important points to know are:

  • what is the goal?
  • why do you have that goal?

If you can answer those two questions, then you are set to tackle the goal. But you do have to remind yourself, quite often, about the goal and the why. Our minds (and bodies) are programmed for inertia, but it is possible to rewire our minds to focus more on the big picture and less on the immediate gratification impulses that sabotage reaching our goals.

Keep the Goal Forefront in Your Mind Always

So imagine that you are going on vacation and you are starting on the drive to get to your vacation destination. If you have children, you know that not 10 minutes into the drive the question arises: “Are we there yet?” You also know that if it’s someplace you are really looking forward to going, your own excitement builds as you get closer. You are thinking about the destination all along the journey to get there.

It should be no different in working towards a goal. The goal is the destination, and if you’ve considered why you have that goal, the reason should be good enough to make you excited about reaching that goal. It’s a good thing to be thinking of that goal the whole time you are working on achieving it. We do need constant reminders about our goal.

I like to start my day with The Miracle Morning Life S.A.V.E.R.S.[affiliate link] I’ve been doing this routine for almost 3 months now, and it has completely changed my focus for the better. I get up in the morning and start my day with meditation/prayer, affirmations, visualization, personal growth reading, and journaling. For exercise, I either go to the gym for about an hour or do about 10-15 minutes of light to medium cardio. Then I’m truly ready to start my day. I have more energy, more focus; I’m happier and I feel amazing! [You can read more about my experience with The Miracle Morning; and learn more about Hal Elrod, author of The Miracle Morning.]

All those things I do, and all those positive results I have are directly affecting my ability to achieve my goals. That doesn’t mean I don’t run into the occasional bump, but I am able to power through it because I know that sleeping in an extra hour is only going to feel good for that hour. Getting up and doing my S.A.V.E.R.S. is going to make me feel good all day. The latter is the more valuable option.

Techniques to Put Your Goal Forefront and Keep you Motivated

  • Create some affirmations. Say them everyday.
  • Create a vision board, or have some visual that represents your goal. Post it everywhere, and keep it on your phone (great as the wallpaper on your computer or phone!) Look at it everyday.
  • Get an accountability partner. You want someone who is encouraging, appreciates your goal and struggles to get there, and is willing to give you positive criticism. (Not yelling at you for eating the jelly doughnut while trying to loose weight, but rather gives you a stern, but encouraging talking to and cheers you for moving forward. Also not one who says, oh well, maybe tomorrow you won’t eat a doughnut!) Check in with him/her often enough to stay on track.
  • Know you will stumble on this journey. Prepare for this, but committing beforehand to stop and take a look at what caused the stumble and why. This is a learning and personal growth opportunity (good things!). Commit to seizing that opportunity rather than looking upon it as a failure or reason to give up.

It’s important to know what your goals are and why you have those goals, but it is equally important to remind yourself daily of those goals.

 

What Makes You Happy? 3 Things to Elevate Your Mood

What makes you happy? 3 Things that can put you in a happier mood todayWhat makes you happy?

They say you can’t buy happiness, but what can you do to make yourself happier? There are a myriad of small things that can contribute to our mood; often changing it from down in the dumps to downright jovial. Let’s explore a few of those things:

What makes you happy? Sandra Boyton's Philadelphia Chickens does it for me!
Sandra Boyton’s Philadelphia Chickens

Music

Can you name 3 songs that always make you smile? I’m betting Pharrell’s “Happy” is one of them. (Weird Al’s recently released parody, “Tacky” is also smile-inducing.) For me, Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” is on the top of the list. Also on the list: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (bum-bum-bum-BUM) and almost any song from Philadelphia Chickens CD (my children liked this for about a month, but it still makes me laugh). At a loss? Search Pandora or other music service for “Happy” and listen to the songs that come up. You may discover a new tune that elevates your mood.

Movies

What movie makes you laugh out loud? Humor is quite subjective, so what is funny for one person may seem outlandishly idiotic to another. The important thing is to make note of a few movies that make YOU laugh, or at least smile a lot. For me: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, A Fish Called Wanda, and in the right frame of mind, <Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Special Edition). (Are you getting the sense that I came of age in the 1980’s?!)

Memories

Surely you have a memory that puts a smile on your face. I can recall many instances, especially when getting together with my sister, of laughing so hard we could barely breathe. I usually don’t remember what we were specifically laughing about, just that it sent us into such convulsions of laughter – and remembering that feeling of pure tear-inducing laughter brings a smile to my face.

Next time you feel your mood shifting into negative territory, invoke one of the 3 M’s (or all of them!). Plan now the specifics of the music and movies so you can have them ready when needed.

Comment below what your favorite happy movies and music are!

Disclaimer: First three music links are to YouTube videos of the songs. Philadelphia Chicken CD and movie links are Amazon affiliate links to DVD’s of the movies.

From Almost Giving Up and Unstoppable

A Good Start

It took almost giving up to discover that I was unstoppable. Sometimes you have to just keep pushing until you get to the place where it all becomes easier.I was up early this morning, as I usually am. Only today I decided to shake up my routine a bit and head to the gym at 6:30 instead of the less crowded time of 9:30 or 10:00 a.m.  Now the “gym” in my little town in actually run by a physical therapist who serves as a personal trainer, Steve. It’s a great deal, but he cuts you no slack (in the nicest way possible!).

After 15 minutes on the elliptical, he tells me today is my “arms” day. Fifteen reps of five different exercises all while holding an 8-pound weight in each hand. (Don’t laugh, I’m new to the working out thing). By the end of the first round, I’m beat. Steve smiles (and not maniacally, but in a really friendly way, so it’s hard to say no) and tells me do another round. Well the first exercise of the round is to stand with legs apart, knees bent, arms straight down holding weights, and swing both arms out in front and all the way up. I thought I would die. Really. After about five, I took a short-ish break. I did five more. I paused. (That’s a way of saying took another break). I think I managed the last five, but it may have only been four. Or three. The rest of the round went a bit better (less pausing). Sweat was pouring down my face and back. I was sure I would pass out.

Almost Giving Up

I wanted that to be the end. My mind was racing with a thousand excuses as to why this exercise thing was not necessary. I mentally fought back that it was necessary, although maybe I’d done enough for today. Steve didn’t think so.

“Alright then, let’s do one more round.”

“Really? Because I think I may collapse.” And if it weren’t for the fact that Steve is possibly the nicest guy on the planet, I would have said that out loud. But I didn’t. I grabbed a sip of water and began round three.

“This first exercise is really killer, Steve.”

“It’s the one that shakes everything into really working.”

“Oh.” Guess that translated into I can’t skip it. This time I could only manage three before taking an extended pause. A pause that involved getting another sip of water and sitting down. But if Steve believed I could do it, then I guess I better give it a go. And I did. It wasn’t easy. And it involved a couple more short pauses, but those last 5 reps were awesome. I found some deep inner strength and gave it my all. I think they may have been the very best reps of the whole morning. I was unstoppable. And as I completed the other 4 exercises in the round, I reminded myself of that: unstoppable.

I left the gym this morning with more than a great rush from an hour of strenuous training (stop laughing), I left with the discovery of an inner force that was much stronger than I had ever given it credit. And that was worth all the pain.

I Like My Sleep

I really do. So it may surprise you to learn that I have given up sleeping in – completely.

It all stems from a podcast I started listening to a few months ago: Achieve Your Goals with Hal Elrod. I had chosen to listen to a few older episodes to get a feel for whether or not I wanted to subscribe to the podcast. In almost every episode Hal mentions his Facebook group, The Miracle Morning Community. So I decided to go check it out. 

It’s a closed group, but your request to join will be accepted. Full of positive people who start their day, not only early, but with a routine that involves self-reflection, exercise, reading, and journaling. I noticed that one of my FB friends was already a member, and I then remembered that she has mentioned her new routine a few times over the last few months – and how it has changed her life.

So I hopped over to Amazon and ordered Hal’s book, The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)  [affiliate link] It arrived on a Friday – just in time to trade in my sleep-in even later weekend mornings for a 5:30 a.m. alarm. 

I’m never up at 5:30 a.m. unless I’m traveling and have to be on the road early. What the heck was I thinking?

I spent most of Friday evening devouring the words, especially the chapter on snooze-proofing your morning. I was going to do this, because it would be worth it, in time.

I’ve continued to work on perfecting my daily routine since creating my weekly tracking sheet, but life was often getting in the way. I could barely find time to get the “real work” done let alone find time to read for personal growth, to exercise, or to even breathe slowly. 

While getting up earlier was always a solution, it wasn’t the solution that I was looking for – until I was motivated by Hal and the others from the MM community. It was certainly worth a try.

So that Saturday morning I set my alarm for 5:30 a.m. I don’t think I slept all that well that night, probably wary of how quickly the morning was going to arrive. But one of the keys to getting up early is to affirm before going to bed “I like getting up early.” Upon waking your first thought should be along the lines of “I am rested and ready to start my day.”

I can’t say I jumped out of bed gleefully that morning, but I didn’t hit the snooze button either. I completed the six practices that   lead to achieving your potential. I felt good. Proud of myself for taking the initiative to make a change. I quickly realized that this was how I was going to get in my personal growth reading as well as strengthen my spiritual needs (an area that has been lacking greatly for the last few months). For the first time since I made it, I was able to take time to study my vision board; a practice that should be done daily, but that I never took the time to do. 

I’m happy to report that today was day 26! The first ten days, as Hal described in his book, are “unbearable.” It took a lot of will power to get out of bed – especially since I was traveling and staying up later than usual. The next ten days were indeed “uncomfortable.” More travel yielded later nights (3 hour earlier time difference didn’t help) – but I kept at it. These last few days have been wonderful. 

Getting Started

So the scariest part is just getting started. You have the desire, you see the big picture, you know where you are going. But you find yourself just sitting there: taking deep breaths, feeling the vines of self-doubt tickle your ankles. If you don’t move those vines will entwine your ankles and grab hold. Moving forward will become all that much harder.

So move. Move forward. Perfection is overrated and you can’t get your message out there, or fulfill your purpose if you’re still trying to figure out what colors your website should be.