Be Your Best

Can You Beat Death as a Career Strategy?

Todd Gifford - Success Coach

On June 26th, Michael Jackson CD’s accounted for 60%+ of all CD Sales on Amazon.com.  Sales of all other Michael Jackson DVD’s, Books, TV programs, etc.. shot up like a rocket as a result of his death.  All of Michael’s ‘friends’ fought vigorously for their 15 minutes of fame on all the cable TV channels.  It kind of reminded me of the O.J. spectacle a number of years back.  I was a young man when Elvis died and was not focused on media hype, but I would imagine it was probably the same thing.  Just seems like everyone’s energy level goes way up for spectacle events like these, vs. channeling some of that energy to getting some really important goals accomplished.  Speaking of goals, I spent some time recently learning how to take a set of goals and really make them come alive.  It makes the process of setting goals much more interesting — even my two girls Lauren (11)and Megan (8) are getting into it.  The process is creating a ‘Vision Board’.  You may have heard the term before, but not quite understood what it is.  It’s pretty simple, and I highly recommend you giving it a try for yourself.  If you like it, it’s a great thing to show kids, friends, family members, and co-workers how to do.  I noticed that in a recent interview with Conan O’Brien (Host of the Tonight Show), there was his own Vision Board in the background.  Like him or not, he’s a pretty successful guy — maybe there is something to this Vision Board thing.  Many very successful people I know personally have been using this tool for many years.  Here’s how it works.  First, you make your list of goals, but you go way outside the ‘work’ and ‘hobby’ areas — list health goals, feeling goals, community service goals, things you want (fun stuff), learning, accomplishments, travel goals, etc… Think big and really go after it.  Then, put a deadline on them (a ‘by when’, ‘how often’ and ‘how much’).  Get a big sheet of card stock or cardboard.  Then, think of and find or create strong images/photos that represent each of these items in your list.  Next, stick them on your Vision Board in any manner you like, hyping it all up with color, designs, etc… I like to write next to each what they represent.  Here is the ‘science’ behind this process: your brain thinks in images, not words.  I don’t need to convince you the power of creating goals, but it’s safely proven that you get and become what you think about and focus on.  Put these two proven concepts together and you get a Vision Board.  Put your Vision Board somewhere you can look at it twice a day to remind yourself and hold yourself accountable to what you want.  Give it a whirl.

Take Care, Todd

Todd Gifford
President
DEE