See it. Define it. Have it.

When you think about success, what does it look like to you? Most people can come up with verbal definitions of what it means to be successful, but not what it would look like to them. I would argue that having some visual representation of success can help you define, and then reach, your success goals. I’ll tell you how.

My husband and I sat down about 6 months ago with a stack of magazines and just started pulling out pictures and words that meant something to us. There was no agenda – no real purpose other than to see what had meaning to us visually. The results, we found, were not all that surprising. Children, homes, sports, vacations and health. Those were the main themes that we found. So we got a big piece of poster board and glued all the pieces down – collage style like you might have done when you were a kid. We had a blast with it and it was reassuring to know that we were on the same page about our future (With the exception of the big picture of the Penn State Nittany Lion that he insisted on including)

Can I tell you there were concrete results? Well, we are expecting twins in February, we just completed a deck remodeling project, and are taking a vacation in 2 weeks. Did all of those things happen just because we made a poster board? Yes and no. What if having those visual cues helped us to really see what mattered to us and freed us up to make them happen? You can be a skeptic all you want, but we are well on our way to having everything on that poster board and have plans in place to move it all forward.

So what if you tried a little exercise, and tried to envision what you hope to achieve in the next year with your business? You don’t have to make a vision board like we did, but if you can see it in your minds’ eye, it is that much easier to know it when you’ve got it, or figure out ways to get it. Define your goals, your success, and you just might surprise yourself. (Plus, what else are you going to do with all those magazines?)