setting your intentions for the future

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By: Vanessa Summers
Vanessa Summers teaches a holistic approach to money in her Wealth & Success Workshop Intensives. She is a Registered Investment Advisor and author of Get in the Game: The Girl's Guide to Money & ...

TABLE OF CONTENTS

compelling vision

With the the New Year arriving, it’s the perfect time to create a compelling vision for your ideal, future life. In essence, a compelling vision is a vivid description in the form of a written narrative that creates demand, sets the bar high, gives you something to aim for, and will help you attract the kind of life you want to live.

You see, there is a blank canvass in front of you and it’s called your future. You can make that future happen any way you want to, but first, you must be clear about what you want it to look like.

A compelling vision should be extremely motivational, it should give you impetus to start each day with purpose, passion and direction. Wealthy and successful individuals are constantly breathing life into their future through creating and fine-tuning their vision over time. When you take the time to write down your intentions, what you are doing is giving yourself something to pursue and strive towards—something that will help you attract the life you wish to live.

Sculpt a Vision for the Future

An example of a compelling vision that I created a while ago reads, “I enthusiastically jump out of bed every morning, well-rested, full of energy and excited to start the day ahead. In all of my daily activities, I am a wife my husband is proud of, a mother my children love as well as feel supported and inspired by, and I am a powerful, dynamic friend and business colleague who people appreciate.

“My family is financially free, physically fit, spiritually fulfilled and emotionally close. We live in a beautiful, spacious modern / contemporary home on the beach with a perfect postcard view of the Pacific Ocean. Our home is light and airy with crisp ocean breezes blowing through. Pictures of my family and special moments of our lives line the walls. The sounds of vibrant family activity fill the house. And as I look out the window, I see waves lapping the shore, seals playing on the rocks, and surfers hanging ten.

“My days are spent helping people around me reach their fullest potential. I do this by meeting with my top 150 rotating clients and prospective new clients via workshop intensives, one-on-one consulting calls, orientation events, direct online marketing, referrals, and book/audio/dvd educational products. I guide them in reaching their fullest financial potentials while helping them illuminate their dreams and aspirations.

I do this by delivering advice that creates dramatically new financial results. I have a detached home office with its own private entrance from the main house. This separate home office has vaulted ceilings and my collection of modern art lines the walls. There are marble floors, a fountain, a meditation room and a place that makes me, my staff and my clients feel comfortable and at home.

“My outstanding staff of three and my highly systemized office allows me to work only four days a week and take twelve weeks of vacation every year. For enjoyment, my husband, kids and I travel the world, kicking back at our second homes, which are located in the desert and in the mountains. We visit our friends and family, we read, exercise and take time to enjoy the beauty of the great outdoors.
“When I go to bed at night, I sleep soundly knowing that I helped make the world a little better and that I became an improved version of me in the process!”

Eleven Points of Departure

Your vision is vital to living a prosperous life. You may never reach this ideal life, but that’s okay. Love yourself enough today to create a future full of purpose, passion and direction. Your life, your business, your mission and your values must all be in alignment so that there’s no incongruity. This year, as you sculpt a vision for your future, consider the following statements and complete each thought in writing.

1. My ideal working environment is… Location? Surroundings?

2. The relationships I want to surround myself with are…

3. I want to spend my days working on…

4. If I weren’t so afraid, I would…

5. My life will not be complete unless I…

6. If I only had six months to live, I would…

7. If I had all the money I ever needed, I would spend the rest of my life doing…

8. I want people to remember me by saying I was…

9. I feel alive and energetic after I have just…

10. The community/world issue that I feel most strongly about is…

11. I know it seems impossible, but my business results would dramatically improve if…

Envision the Future Using Your Senses

Now review your answers, and from here and begin shaping a vivid narrative that will give you great excitement as well as motivate you to take action. Try to create a picture in your mind that totally encapsulates the scene. What does the environment look like? What are you doing?

What are you surrounded by? How are you feeling? Once the picture comes into focus, write it down in full detail and read it each morning, and calling it up frequently to help you stay on track. You may even wish to begin each section by using the phrases:

• My compelling vision is to…
• I surround myself with…
• I live in…
• I spend my days…
• I accomplish…

In Short

I believe the present is dictated by the future against a backdrop of the past. Meaning, the more you focus on where you would like to be, the more you prepare yourself to receive the total essence of your heart’s desire.

Conscious abundance is thought through and carved out over time. Love yourself enough to give yourself a gift of prosperity, for now and each New Year to come!

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