Recognizing many of us tend to make New Year Resolutions only for them to fall by the wayside, today, and for the next few upcoming Rules and Tools I'll share with you tools you can use to increase your success . If you've been following LDI's Rules and Tools for Success for any period of time you know how important it to be self-aware of the seeds you sow in your mind with what it is you think about. To help, it's important to have many different sources that continue to remind and reinforce those thoughts and hence your success.
This week's tool for success is to create your own Vision Board. Now, the last time you had anything to do with a collage was probably in your third grade art class, well no need to dig out the scissors, poster board and Elmer's glue, however, if you have young children in your life you might consider doing this as a project with them - a great way to help them stay focused, think about goals (clean room, good grades, new bike, etc) and their own success. This can also be an effective teambuilding exercise for your office or department in identifying values, vision, mission and goals.
Assuming you have your goals, resolutions, vision or dreams identified, the next step is to collect pictures that reflect them. If you are using a poster board this will be pictures from magazines, newspapers, photos you've taken yourself, or printed from pictures taken from the internet (Google images is a great resource). In addition to the tried and true poster board approach, I prefer the use of technology and use PowerPoint and photo editing software (Depending on your skill with photo editing software you can really go wild). In this manner I first collect my pictures in a folder on my hard drive (you can also simply copy and paste right on to your Power Point slide if you prefer). From here I can then piece them together until complete. Once you have your collage looking the way you want, either simply print it out on an 8.5X11 sheet of paper(preferably photo paper) and frame, or, as I prefer, email(or take it on a flash drive) it to your local Staples, Office Depot or Office Max and have them put on a poster board with foam backing (less than $30, depending on size). This gives it a nice glossy, professional look on a hard backing easy to hang or lean against something without curling up. You can also save it as a background on your desktop or as a screensaver. A second approach is to create an actual slide show with a different picture and or text on each slide and specifically use it as your screen saver where it rotates through each photo.
Good luck, have fun, and email me a copy when you're done, I'd love to see it.
Be Extraordinary!
