I have always set goals.  When I was 12, I knew I wanted to play hockey at an Ivy League school. Either Cornell or Harvard. So I posted a picture of a Cornell hockey player (Joe Nieuwendyk) and a Harvard hockey player on my bathroom mirror.  Along the way, I had a lot of offers, some quite lucrative (of course when you are 16, any kind of money is lucrative!) to play elsewhere, but I had a vision and nothing was getting in my way of it.

 I went to Cornell. (Talk about Culture. Have you ever been to a Cornell hockey game? Here is a snapshot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BLCNm_9Ryk&NR=1.  It is a one of a kind culture experience and is ultimately why I chose Cornell over all of the other schools)

 As I got older, I forgot about this. I set goals, I created a life plan and even kept it in my wallet everywhere I went. But I would ultimately forget about some of the most important things that I wanted. Why?  Because I couldn’t see them. When I was a teenager, I looked at the picture of those Ivy League hockey players every single day.  I mean I couldn’t help it – they were always there, whether I realized it or not.

 So two years ago, my wife Gayla and I decided to create our own painted pictures -  in pictures. I replicated what was on my life plan in pictures.  My dreams, my aspirations, my most important things in life – it was now in pictures.  We framed them and hung them over our breakfast table.

 Every morning , when I ate my cereal, I stared at my painted picture board. Again, not always because I meant to, it was just….there. And then things started to happen.

 First, I had a dream to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. I had bought all of my gear right before we started Nurse Next Door, but of course, life caught up and I never made it. I posted 3 pictures of Kilimanjaro on my board. After staring at those pictures for a month, I knew what I had to do. I called 2 of my best friends up and asked if they were in.  It was impractical- I had a 2 year old girl, I ran a fast growing company, I had a family – how could I take 3 weeks off and go to Africa?

And we did it. And since the time that I posted my personal painted picture up over my table, I have had more of my dreams and aspirations happen then ever before. Just as I did when I was a kid, my pictures started to come true.

Why does this work? It just does. I can’t explain it. Well actually I can, but you would probably get bored and tune out. So just trust me. It works. You gotta put it out there, and you gotta see it. Everyday.

And the best thing about putting it up in pictures so that everyone can see? Other people buy in. My wife was my biggest supporter. In fact, she was the one who bought me my tickets and all of my gear. (Remember, I was leaving her with our crazy (in a good way) 2 year old daughter Daisy for 3 weeks!) And she was following me every step of the way when I was climbing. Following my route, emailing me encouragement.  Why?

 Because she was part of the dream. She was involved. It wasn’t just mine anymore. It was our dream. She saw it up on my board everyday too. And she knew how important it was to me. And we made it happen together.

 Go out and start sharing your dreams with those around you who love you and care.

This entry was posted on August 26, 2010 at 2:10 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in Entrepreneurship The Envisioned Future Vision by admin 2 Comments