Becoming an author was a dream of mine for over a decade. The interesting part of that dream was when the desire first came to me, I had no idea what the content would be, what my message would be or how I would ever get a publishing deal. This is one of the first lessons in the power of desire.
All you need to start a dream into motion is a deep-rooted desire. Once you have that desire and set the energy into motion, then you must have the faith that life will give you the experiences, lessons and people to move forward in the direction to achieving your goals. Next, you must commit to the work of the journey with unwavering determination and perseverance. The journey itself gives you many new goals and achievements along with failures, all of which you never could have predicted, but all are important and are part of the process. One other important part of the equation is gratitude. I believe that gratitude is the emotion that brings depth into the journey; gives it real purpose. Being grateful for the good times and the lessons learned in the bad times gives meaning to whatever it is you are doing. It is an emotion that fuels your spirit and brings internal happiness.
As the new year approaches we begin to reflect on the past year's event and make new plans and goals for the future, both personally and professionally. Know that you have the power to create the world around you by how you think, how you act and most importantly how you treat other people. Throughout my life I have always heard the phrase "live a life of service." What my interpretation of that was even a year ago is vastly different than what it is today. I had always enjoyed helping people, it was innate for me, but it wasn't until this year I had an enormous shift to understand that in helping others is where the true fulfillment resonates in everything you do. Making the goals about the impact on others shifts the results on every level. For example, instead of me thinking, "I want to sell out my products on QVC in 4 minutes," I shifted it to, "I want to inspire anyone who is watching that has ever had an idea like mine to follow their dreams." or "Through my products I want to give women a solution to bring order to her otherwise chaotic life." Understand the shift? I made it about other people, not just myself. It's very likely I will get the original results I desired or better in shifting the intention of those goals. More importantly, the reward is greater for everyone and the fulfillment is massively different.
When setting your goals for 2012, I challenge you to go one step further and for each goal understand and set at least one or two intentions that would positively impact others. Next, become grateful for the outcome of those goals and circumstances today, as if they have already happened. Don't just think about being grateful, you need to feel genuine gratitude to set the e-motion in motion and experience 2012 as your most rewarding and fulfilling year yet.
To find out more, check out my new book What if? & Why not?: How to Transform Your Fears Into Action and Start the Business of Your Dreams