Visioning {How We Plan to Rock 2014!}

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope all of you had an amazing holiday! We had such a great time with friends and family in Long Beach, Los Angeles, and even New Mexico.

Zach survived his first road trip and did remarkably well. I was fully prepared to have to stay the night at some sketchy motel on the way haha.

For the new year, we enjoyed a few days at The Happiest Place on Earth. During the busiest time in the world.

Zach loved his first Disneyland experience, and is the newest member of the Mickey Mouse Fan Club. He quickly gravitated to a Mickey plush doll on our 2nd day there, and we couldn’t say “no”.

Since then, Mickey has not missed a moment with us. He even eats and sleeps with Zach.

I’m also having to work on my Mickey Mouse accent, as Zach makes us pretend to be Mickey while we are playing. It’s such a fun age…aside from the TBD (Toddler Bipolar Disorder), of course.

Anyway, in honor of the new year, today I wanted to take some time to share about visioning.

Stephen introduced me to this concept of “visioning” about a year ago. As he was describing it, I realized it was something I had done from time to time, without being aware of the fact that there was a term to describe it.

What is visioning, you ask? It’s basically creating a picture of what success will be in a particular area of your life, at a particular time in the future. You want to start by choosing your topic and time frame. So, let’s say you choose the topic of physical health and well-being. You decide that you want to be working out 3 times a week because you want to run a marathon this year, and the time frame is January 2015 (a year from now).

Now, you start writing. Don’t think too hard. Don’t edit yourself. Just write. Write for at least 15-30 minutes about what you envision for yourself as it relates to that topic in that time frame. A general rule of thumb with visioning is to write as if it’s already happened. So, it may go something like this…

Last year was so amazing. Amazingly hard! But I’m so glad I pushed myself. I wanted to workout 3 times a week to help train for the marathon I signed up for in August. I definitely had some weeks where I struggled, and only got one workout in, but I kept going. And, I can’t believe it, I did it! In August, I ran the marathon, and it was the most awesome, exhilarating, trying experience. When I got to the last 7 miles, I wasn’t even sure I would make it. I couldn’t feel my legs, and I’m pretty sure my body was in survival mode at that point. Thank god for the amazing people I met while I was training. One of the women ran the last few miles with me. I don’t think I could have done it without her. At that point, I just needed a distraction. Even though I didn’t place or anything (that wasn’t the goal), competing that race was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done in my entire life. I don’t think I’ll ever do it again! But at least I can say I did it. I set my mind to something and I worked really hard and I achieved it. I am so proud of myself.

Instead of doing New Year’s Resolutions this year, we decided to approach our goals through visioning exercises! We have personal and business goals laid out. Every Monday, we have a Visioning Meeting, where we quickly meet to check in and see where we are as it relates to our plan & vision. We start by sharing things we’ve accomplished in the previous week, and talk about what we can do in the following week to work toward our vision.

We really break our goals down into these yummy, bite-size pieces. I love it! It’s so much more than just saying “I want to travel this year” or “I want to be healthier” or “I want to make a million dollars”. My goals, our goals, feel real. They feel tangible.

So, regardless of whether or not you’ve already picked some goals or resolutions for 2014, I want to encourage you to try this! If you already have a goal or two for the year, start there and do the writing exercise. If you are like me and refused to make resolutions you don’t keep one more year, take some time to think of something meaningful you would like to accomplish this year and do the writing exercise.

BUT…don’t stop there. The most important part is SHARING your vision. Find at least one other person you trust to share your vision with. Maybe have them do the exercise, too, so you can keep each other accountable!

Leave a comment below to let me know how the exercise goes! Or, if you’ve done this in the past, share your experience with it!

Here’s to an amazing 2014 for all of us!

xo

Jess