I used to write down my goals each year, but it never really worked for me. I just didn't feel really excited about my new goals. They didn't seem to propel me in motion and so I kind of viewed them as being useless. I never really looked at them, probably because they seemed like "shoulds" rather than "really-meaningful-wants."
Then I came across the concept of creating 3-year visions instead of just a list of goals for the upcoming year. This visioning wasn't just about business goals, but also family, financial, spiritual, and relationship goals. It became a "holistic" way of looking at what you wanted in your life. All the pieces looked like they would work together, but only because you were compelled to make it all work together, which was the first time I'd done that in such depth.
The coolest thing about visioning 3 years out came to me after I started doing this regularly. I noticed that ONE year goals were never too much of a stretch. They seemed like timid goals, goals that didn't really get me excited. But having to create a vision of what 3 years down the line would look like allowed me to REALLY think BIG.
Inhibitions dropped. My creative side started going and I really took time to see, "Hey, what WOULD I want my life to look like in 3 years, if I could have time to create it?" SHAZAM! I felt like I'd hit the jackpot.
The 3-year vision was a way for me to create something to strive for that REALLY spoke to me. Something that made my heart beat a little faster after I read it, excited to get going, and just a little bit scared of the thought of me reaching it. Now THAT would propel me into motion the way a yearly list of goals wouldn't be able to do. (By the way, my deep down secret is that I strive to reach these in 1 or 2 years, not 3, and that's usually what happens.)
So, each year, around this time, I create a 3-year vision of what I want my practice to look like. I write it in the present tense, as if it were 3 years later, that same day. For example, this past year I wrote mine on January 4, 2008 as if it was January 4, 2011, and I talked about all the things that had happened since 2008. All the things I'd accomplished in my business, with my finances, my investments, my family, and myself over the "last 3 years," which obviously hadn't actually happened yet.
Such a cool exercise and it really gets the blood flowing when you read it back to yourself, now and over the year.
"When you can clearly see yourself being there, you can see much more clearly how to get there. You can imagine the path to your dreams, and then start to actually walk it. Play an active role in your own future. Imagine with passion and detail how you'd most like it to be." -Ralph Marston, http://greatday.comYou see, I've figured out that it's not just about goals. Yes, goals are important, but the way I look at it, it's about focusing on what you REALLY want for your life, not the "shoulds." It's also about putting into effect the Law of Attraction in a big way. When you know what you want for your life, when you can imagine it with passion and feel what it feels like to have it, it's almost guaranteed to come to you.
So, this weekend, I'll be taking a couple of hours to work on my own 3-year vision. I wouldn't dream of not doing it. My success depends on it and it does for you too.
Your Client Attraction Assignment:
Your turn. Sometime this week, create a 3-year vision dated January 4, 2012. Your 3-year vision must be one that will literally PULL you into your future, will scare you just a little bit, and make your heart beat a little faster than normal whenever you read this.
Make your 3-year vision very specific, realistic, and a big STRETCH (that's what's going to move you forward quicker than you would if you didn't have it). If you're right brained, use bullet points for categories such as business, finances, personal, family, spiritual, fun, health, etc. If you're left-brained, then write freely, and remember to keep it all grounded in the specific, with lots of MEASURABLES and TANGIBLES thrown in there so you can keep track of your progress over the next 3 years (that's what I do).
Be sure to write in the present tense as if it were 3 years from now... If it doesn't scare you just a little bit or get your mind racing, then it's probably not enough of a stretch. By the way, I just looked back to last year's 3-year vision and I was SHOCKED to see how many of the goals in my 3-year vision I'd already achieved in just a little over a year. This stuff really works!!
Once you've done your 3-year vision and are ready to get marketing in a big way for 2009, invest in your success by getting yourself the Client Attraction Home Study System™. It avoids all the unnecessary stuff and instead gives you the most important things to do to find your niche, get out there in a big way, set up simple, solid systems, so you consistently fill your pipeline and continually get new clients. It's all step-by-step, not a big mishmash of things. So, you do step one, and when you're done with that, you move on to step two, and so on. SO easy. That's why my thousands and thousands of customers have gotten such great results from it. All the tools, scripts, templates, and examples are handed to you on a silver platter. You can get yours at TheClientAttractionSystem.com. Why struggle when you can just model a system that already works?
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Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System®, the proven step-by-step program that shows you exactly how to attract more clients, in record time...guaranteed. To get your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and receive her weekly marketing & success mindset articles on attracting more high-paying clients and dramatically increasing your income, visit www.ClientAttraction.com.
