Image by kmarius
Narrated by Marie T. Russell.
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Falling into a rut doesn’t mean we have to stay there. Even when it can seem like an insurmountable challenge to climb back out, finding a way is possible. My life is a testament that it can be done.
As a young adult, I faced a succession of setbacks. The first was my parents’ divorce. I hadn’t recovered emotionally from that setback when my Dad unexpectedly died, leaving me rudderless. As I continued to flounder, I squandered several thousand dollars of inheritance and ended up homeless.
Out of The Rut to The Top
I was eventually able to turn my life around, and, from a medical records business that I started with a single copy machine on my kitchen table, created a multimillion-dollar, top-rated company called MediCopy.
Let me share my secret to rising from life’s lowest point to the pinnacle of personal and professional success.
To begin, it’s important to understand that every plan begins with the expression of a thought. Once we take the time to stop, to focus and to determine our most desired dreams for our life, those dreams not only begin to take shape, but they start to manifest. By pausing to think through the direction we hope for our lives to take, actions naturally and miraculously follow our intentions.
A Vision What?
A tangible, meaningful tool to focus on the future we hope to achieve is a vision board. In fact, I’ve become such a believer in creating a vision board to define dreams and, by doing so, discover a way to pursue them, that I encourage the entire 200-plus-member staff at MediCopy to make their own boards each year. I even give them paid time off to accomplish the exercise. Many who were initially reluctant to take part soon found value in making a vision board as they witnessed the positive power that defining their vision generated.
I know that getting people who have never dreamed much to start dreaming can often be a hard sell. Many are too preoccupied with paying mortgages, school loans and other expenses to look beyond the month, let alone make plans for the year. If they aren’t ready to make grandiose plans or imagine long-term goals, their vision boards can include such small steps as saving $5 a week or taking a short walk every morning. The empowerment they find by accomplishing what they envisioned will build over time.
9 Elements to Creating a Vision Board
To create your own vision board, include these nine elements:
- Recapture the memory of your childhood dream job.
What profession did you once fantasize about — before the practicalities of pursuing a career path kicked in. Write, draw or paste on pictures of that profession. Do you have any residual desires to explore that occupation?
- Recall the moment when you first received kudos.
Do you remember a time early on when someone brought an ingrained talent that you possessed to your attention? Portray that meaningful moment on your vision board. Do you have occasion to express your talent currently?
- Celebrate what makes you different.
What makes you different from the norm? How do you express — or hide — that difference? Present how you honor, or hope to honor, that difference on your vision board.
- State the main principle you live by.
What motto or expression represents your core value or the quality you most wish to uphold? Write or cut out the motto and place it on your board.
- Portray your ideal family.
If you’re lucky, your biological family members constitute your dream family. But for many, we form our “family” from those we feel comfortable with and able to confide in. List those people who form your close inner circle.
- Define your ambitions.
Because thoughts have the ability to manifest themselves, take the time to dream big about your goals — both personal and professional. Seeing the images that represent your ambitions displayed on your board regularly will help them become reality.
- Depict your version of success.
Portray both the professional status and the personal satisfaction you will experience when you realize your dreams. What rewards will come with success?
- Identify your self-care practices.
What do you do to nourish your soul or to recharge your battery? Acknowledging that you need to take time for yourself in order to give 100 percent to your work and to others will remind you to protect that important time for self-care.
- Compose your accountability chart.
To be the version of your best self involves taking responsibility for your actions. Insuring your own accountability to others begets their accountability to you. List the people to whom you are accountable on your board, and those you consider accountable to you.
Share Your Vision Board
The final activity in the vision board exercise is to share your board with those in your inner circle — perhaps some of the people you identified in #5. Ideally, everyone else has also created their own board, and together you can discuss what you learned from the experience and how you expect to put action behind your vision.
Congratulations! If you’ve spent the time to create your vision board, you’ve taken an important step toward your own version of success.
Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved.
Published with permission of the author.
Book by this Author:
Bald Bearded Boss: Manifesting Who You’re Meant To Be
by Elliott Noble-Holt
Elliott Noble-Holt created a multimillion-dollar, top-rated business. He also built his own strong, vibrant family.
How did he do it? In Bald Bearded Boss, Elliott shares the depths of the struggles he faced during his teenage years. He then walks through the ways he addressed those struggles, one by one. In each case, he sought and discovered ways to turn his challenges into triumph. In this powerful and inspiring story, He details his step-by-step blueprint for success.
For more info and/or to order this book, click here. Also available as a Kindle edition.
About the Author
Elliott Noble-Holt has devoted his life to the advancement of healthcare information management (HIM). He is the founder and CEO of MediCopy Services, Inc., based in Nashville, Tennessee, that currently provides HIM solutions to more than 4,000 healthcare facilities nationwide. MediCopy and Noble-Holt have received numerous accolades, including the Inc. 5000 “America’s Fastest-Growing Companies in the U.S.” eight times, and Nashville’s Most Admired CEO award.
His new book, Bald Bearded Boss: Manifesting Who You’re Meant to Be (Advantage Media Group, Nov. 9, 2021), describes his inspirational story from tragedy to triumph. Learn more at baldbeardedboss.com.
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