Happy New Year everyone!  Today is a great day to update your goals for 2011. I’ve made this process even easier with this simple Goal Worksheet for 2011 and beyond.

Before we get to the goals for 2011, here’ s a quick review of 2010 goals that were accomplished. I used a different form last year, which also included some dates in the next 2-5 years.  In 2010, I was able to complete the following goals from my goal sheet:

• Completed the Toastmasters Competent Communicator Manual
• Was recognized at the Division Level for the Toastmasters Evaluation Contest
• Built new relationships through social media and everyday meetings – Gelato Mommies!
• To be pregnant by the end of the year – not only that, she was born in September
• Attended all Agel A-Team events, only missed Agel World as Céline was born 3 days after the event

Sure, there were many other goals on the sheet that did not get accomplished, but I think it’s important to focus on the goals that were achieved, rather than the ones that were not.  How about you? How did 2010 finish for you?

If 2010 didn’t exactly pan out as you had planned, then perhaps you’ll need to perform a Burning Bowl ceremony as suggested by one of my mentors, Randy Gage.

Randy Gage, MLM & Prosperity Guru, explains how to use the Burning Bowl Ceremony in order to get rid of negative baggage that may be holding you back, so that you can start attracting the things your desire!

There are a number of emotions, feelings and actions that aren’t serving me well anymore, so I plan to do this ceremony on the weekend, in my BBQ! Anyone else who is in the area and wants to participate, let me know.  We can make an evening out of it.

Next post I will be sharing some of my key goals from the 2011 and beyond worksheet.  And hopefully by then, you’ll have had time to complete it yourself so that you can share some of your goals with us too!

Last week’s post, What Street Do You Live On? generated some great comments and interesting conversation. I also had a chance to expand on the post and say it as my last speech for Toastmasters.  It was recorded and I’ll be sharing the video in the coming days – I was lucky enough to have a professional recording by my good friend Maude Leger of Sold Right Away.  I have now completed my first Toastmasters manual and achieved the level of Competent Communicator. This was one of my goals when I joined just over a year ago, to complete the manual this season.

After the many different reactions I received from the post and the speech, I wanted to do a follow up post. And I’d like to hear from you! My big question is:

What does Prosperity mean to you?

I have a feeling that although the dictionary definition might mean one thing, for many people, it means a number of different things.  The definition from dictionary.com is as follows: a successful, flourishing, or thriving condition, esp. in financial respects; good fortune.

I’m looking forward to hearing for you in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter about your personal meaning for Prosperity.  And I’ll likely be sharing a blog post from the sunny south this weekend!

Do you live on Mediocre Street or Prosperity Avenue? Are you striving to be average or are you striving for greatness? Do you just want to be comfortable or do you want to be rich? Are you happy with the status quo or would you like to live above and beyond?

These questions aren’t necessarily easy questions to answer and they don’t all have a simple response, do they?  Four years ago, these types of questions would not have even entered in my consciousness, as I didn’t even realize that there was MORE to life then becoming average. This is not to say that being average is a BAD thing – like many people – I had the dream to go to school, get my degree, get a good corporate job and work my way up to a solid 6 figure income and at the same time, meet the man of my dreams and start a family. We would live in a 3 bedroom home, most likely in Oakville or Burlington, take 2 weeks of vacation every year and live a COMFORTABLE life.  Sounds like the perfect North American dream, right?  What I started to realize though, is as I pulled back the curtain on this lifestyle, I realized that this dream wasn’t exactly what I had wanted. In fact, becoming average started to appeal less and less.

What I hadn’t realized is that all our lives we have been programmed to become average, to fit the status quo and to live in mediocrity. And living in mediocrity can be much easier than living a life of greatness.  It can be easier to go through life, working at a job or a business that pays the bills with enough left over to take a few weeks vacation every year, to live in a house that fits your needs, to drive a reasonable car and have just enough STUFF to fill that home and to keep up the status illusion. A life that becomes almost like Groundhog Day.  Anyone remember that movie with Bill Murray? He wakes up every day and repeats the same day over and over again? Sadly, this is the reality for most of us.  We go to work Monday to Friday, anticipate the weekend all week, spend the weekend doing errands, cleaning up around the house or maybe even relaxing, only to wake up again on Monday morning and do it all again. Forty years later, we retired on less money then we had when we were working, so in order to keep the house and travel, we have to go back to work.  Is this really what our lives were meant to be?

There are many amazing people worldwide who believe otherwise and I’d like to share with you how some of their philosophies have helped thousands of people just like you & I, to personally strive for a life a greatness, rather than mediocrity.

Randy Gage, The Millionaire Messiah of Prosperity, has a very empowering motto: “Prosperity is your birthright and your natural condition. It is all around you. There is no place on earth that Prosperity is not.”  He has spent years leading a tribe of people who want to live a life that is full of prosperity, in every way possible.  His preaches about success and prosperity on his blog and has written several books on the topic, including Why You’re Dumb, Sick and Broke and How to Get Smart Healthy and Rich. His message is simple, why live in mediocrity when you can live in prosperity? He helps us to understand how challenging it can be to overcome societal lack programming and the lack mentality that surrounds most of us. And he is a living example of someone who has overcome great challenges and poverty to become a multi-millionaire and one of the most powerful speakers on prosperity alive today.

Jim Rohn was an amazing man who also preached about greatness and prosperity.  From humble beginnings as a farm boy in Idaho, Jim Rohn went on to be become a world-reknown motivational and inspirational speaker, as well as building several multi-million dollar businesses. As he so aptly stated, “Whoever renders service to many puts himself in line for greatness – great wealth, great return, great satisfaction, great reputation, and great joy.” This is really the key that we often forget – the only way to achieve greatness is to provide great service to others.  To paraphrase Rohn, if you help a few dozen people to succeed, you’ll make a little bit of money. If you help a few hundred people to succeed, you’ll make even more money.  And if you help thousands of people to succeed, you’ll become a millionaire.  What a beautiful way to frame prosperity – help thousands of people to achieve their dreams and be successful, and you’ll become a millionaire in the process.

What both of these amazing mentors and teachers help us to really understand is that it’s ok to want to be rich and to be prosperous. In fact, it’s our right and privilege to be able to live a life of GREATNESS.  It’s up to us to rise above mediocrity and to be the best person we can be, not only for ourselves and for our families, but for the entire nation and the world.  As strange as it may sound, it will always be easier to remain on Mediocre Street, then to live on Prosperity Avenue. That is why less than 5% of people ever do make the move.

Four years ago, I started to pack up my things on Mediocre Street.  I haven’t found my home on Prosperity Avenue yet – but I am certainly on the journey every single day.  I experience set backs and challenges just like everyone else, but I also know that this journey is just as important as the destination. And as I travel along this path, I invite you to come with me. To take a little step in the direction of Prosperity Avenue every single day.  To start to think about how your life could be GREAT and how you could make a BIG difference in the world.  Together, we can be a part of the prosperity movement and lead others to join us. There is more than enough for everyone! Will you join me on the journey to GREATNESS?

How many of you have seen The Secret? Back in October of 2006, I had a chance to see this movie – the original version with Esther Hicks (Lisa Nichols replaced her in the more widely known edition). It had a huge impact on my life in so many ways and was one of the catalysts for my journey and study of personal growth and development. I also used some of the methods to attract my perfect partner, my husband Dan. One of the other skills I learned was creating a Vision Board in order to attract all of the things you desire in your life.  Since then, I have created at least half a dozen vision boards, most recently just before the holidays in 2009.  Many people have asked me about creating vision boards, and it seems like there are vision board workshops at least once a month.  There are books you can buy on building your vision board, and kits that include some of the photos you might want to include. You can google vision board and find programs to create an online vision board as well.

Here are a few suggestions to consider when building your vision board.

• Preparation:
  • Buy magazines that you don’t normally purchase – for example The Robb Report (luxury cars, homes etc), Architectural Digest, Conde Nast Traveller.
  • Save old calendars – many have great quotes and photos (or buy them in February at 75% off)
  • Think BIG and dream your impossible dreams! This is what can be really fun about the vision board. I have a round-the-world cruise on one of my boards – a one year cruise around the globe.
  • Choose quotes and words that inspire you. “I have seen the mountains and they have touched my heart!” is one of my favorites. Words such as: Focus, Power, Inspiration, Leadership, Fun and Love.
  • Instead of using a bristol board, you can purchase a thicker foam board from most craft stores for about $5.  If you are looking for a more permanent board, purchase a frame for a heavier cardboard and frame it. I like to update my dream boards within a year, so I choose the foam board.
  • Before you start, cut out all of the photos, quotes and items that you’d like to have on your vision board.
• Making the Vision Board
  • Find a large, flat surface to lay your board on.

  

  • Arrange the photos in a collage fashion on your board.  You can do this any way you like but for my most recent board, I put together the photos and quotes based on the Feng Shui bagua.  I also included colour swatches from each of the quadrants. There is plenty of information on Feng Shui on the internet and at the library, if you’re interested in finding out more about how it works.
  • Place all of the photos and quotes on the board before you begin gluing. Your photos may or may not overlap, it’s up to you.
  • Use an acid free glue.  I prefer to use rubber cement, but it’s harder to find these days (I think it might be toxic!).  I found a liquid UHU stick that worked well.
• A few final notes:
  • Make sure you’re in a good mood when you create the vision board,you want to have the right energy when putting it together
  • Uplifting music or even having The Secret on in the background can be helpful
  • Your vision board should make you smile when you look at it and create feelings of excitement and joy!
  • Hang your vision board in a place where you will see it several times throughout your day.  And take a moment to stop and look at it when you do walk by it.
  • And if you’re having trouble dreaming big or asking for prosperity – subscribe to Randy Gage’s Success and Prosperity blog – his perspective can be very enlightening.

If you haven’t made a vision board yet, start this weekend! I’m here to answer your questions as needed and look forward to seeing your vision boards when they are completed.  If yours is already completed, feel free to share a photo!