Change is on every one’s mind. “Change we can believe in.”

It is the beginning of a new year and it is the time of year most of us start thinking about changing aspects of our lives that will leave us feeling healthier, happier, prosperous, and more fulfilled.

Our country is facing incredible challenges and with those challenges some amazing opportunities. Our new president Barack Obama represents America’s deep desire for change. We want to be prosperous, safe, proud, to have opportunities and to be seen as a respected leader in the world again. But to be great as a country we need to be great as individuals. So the question is, who do we have to be as individuals in order to make our country prosperous and strong again and to make our communities and world a better place? I believe that we all have to take on being as physically, emotionally, and as spiritually strong as possible. As Mahatma Gandhi put it “we must be the change we want to see in the world.” What does that look like for you?

Try This Four Step Process….

1. Devote time to letting yourself dream a future for yourself. Be hopeful, dream big. What does your health look like? Your financial situation? Your idea of contribution to your family, community, and the world?

2. Begin to bring dreams into reality by writing them down and/or creating a vision board or journal with images that represent your dreams.

3. From your dreams create goals. Be as specific as you can.
They should be as tangible as possible, with a definite timeline. Write them down and put them in a place you can see daily.

3. Gather your resources. Be brutally honest with yourself. What strengths to you have that will support you in attaining your goals? Equally important is to identify what resources you need to help you. What new skills do you need to develop? Who are the people you need to call on to help you? What are the obstacles that will likely appear? What will be your strategy to overcome them? Write all of this out.

4. Now, execute consistently. Expect both success and setbacks along the way. Celebrate the successes and move on from the setbacks. Look at setbacks as the fertilizer for growth, we can gain allot of information from setbacks. The best part of achieving a dream is how the journey makes us grow. Enjoy the ride!