THE SECRET ART OF ACHIEVING YOUR DREAMS

Gratitude – This is the top technique as gratitude is the biggest accelerator of your dreams. Open up the journal, on the left side, write down all the things that your are grateful for now, the things that are tangible in your life by starting the sentence as follows: “I am grateful now that… .” Feeling gratitude in your heart is very important. On the right side of the page, you can write the things that you want, physical and nonphysical (i.e. a loving relationship with your family), but the magic happens here: you write them in the same format as the list on the left, in present tense and with the same format, feeling an intense gratitude in your heart as if you already had them.

Inspirations – Inspirations are ideas with an amazing positive feeling. When you receive an inspiration, not only must you write them down, but also take immediate steps to make them happen. Your intuition and positive feelings will determine if that thought is a true inspiration. Pay close attention to these as they are amazing propellers of success in your life

Ideas – On some occasions, you might get simple ideas that might not have the same strong positive feeling of an inspiration, but it is important to capture them as well. Keep them in a special section for further analysis. You can go back to this section once you have collected a few ideas and then rate them, prioritize, organize them and decide their feasibility. If they are not worthy of your time, simply discard them and come up with new ones.

Realizations – Sometimes we are presented with “Aha” moments. There is no better way to capture those moments of awakening and realization, than writing them down. Review them constantly to stay on the road of self-betterment.

Smart Goals- Every goal should be a SMART goal: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound. Use your journal to create a solid commitment to your goals and see how they become a reality.

Quotes – Many times our inspirations in life come in the form of quotes from leaders of our world, take time to write them down as gems that will help you expand your horizons.

Experiences – Write down your professional and personal experiences to ensure that you remember them, they can be either a positive experience or a negative experience. If it is something that you don’t understand why it happened, then write down a list of questions…the answers will be revealed to you either right away as you create objectivity by simply asking them or at a later date through other people, inspirations or ideas.

Vision – A journal is the perfect place to encapsulate your vision through drawings – a mind mapping exercise. Infuse a positive feeling when capturing your vision for the new month, year or 10 years. Start out by writing down the vision in a circle at the center of the page, then write down all the thoughts around the page.  Once you have exhausted all the ideas related to that vision, go back to each one of them to elaborate with additional details. Finally, organize them by category, feasibility and create action items for each of them to complete a cohesive plan of action.

Planning – “For every minute that you plan, you save ten minutes in execution,” is a famous quote by Brian Tracy. It is true. Use your journal to plan your day, your week, your month and your year. Be as specific and realistic as you can to create a timeline that works for you, depending on the objective at hand.