My husband has an employee that I worked with for a while during my years as his office manager.  She’s a very sweet, well-intended, hard worker.  I’m going to refer to her as “Pam,” but that is not her real name.

We sent Pam to Lexington, Kentucky for some training early on in her employment, which is typical for us to do.  It was a half-day course and she called us around Noon to let us know she had passed the exam and was on her way back to the office.  Lexington is about an hour from us. 

Around 2:30 in the afternoon, I received a call from Pam.  While we had given her directions on how to get to the course, we failed to give her directions on how to get back home!  She said, in a rather excited, nervous, upset tone, “I’m at Renfro Valley!”  (Which is a good 40 minutes in the opposite direction!)

We often tease Pam about that incident and it is, needless to say, one of her most embarrassing moments, but I’m not sharing it with you just to further humiliate Pam on the World Wide Web, I want to ask you this: Have you ever ended up somewhere in life, unintentionally, not fully understanding how you got there?

Too often on our life’s path we don’t pay attention to where we’re going, then we ask “How did I end up here?”  Well, Pam, because you drove in that direction.  You didn’t take the right road to get to where you wanted to be. 

The good news is that you can start where you are right now, and create a new course for the rest of your life.  Pam didn’t have to go all the way back to Lexington, to the parking lot where she took her course, and start all over again.  We gave her directions on how to get from where she was at that moment, back home. 

Are you ready to take some directions?

Our directions today will come from Wallace D. Wattles’ book “The Science of Getting Rich,” which I’ve been evaluating now since last Monday. You can download the book free directly from my site, or from The Science of Getting Rich NETwork. There are links to my three previous posts to the right.  I am in Chapter 8, “Thinking in The Certain Way.”

I am putting Wattles thoughts into a step-by-step process, and this is step four: Set Clear, Definite Goals.

“You must first form a clear and definite mental picture of what you want.  You cannot transmit an idea unless you have it yourself. . . . You must know what you want and be specific and definite.”

Okay, but how?  It makes sense to me, and I believe what Wattles says, but I must admit, this is something I’ve always struggled with.  First, there’s the issue of making decisions.  We women are known for not being able to make up our minds.  Ladies, we’ve got to get past this!  When I concentrate on being a decision maker, I can do it, but I do have to practice it a lot.  Otherwise, I’ll take forever in deciding which pair of shoes to buy, only to have my husband come along and say, “Why don’t you just buy both – you know you’ll wear them.”  Duh!  Of course, part of that issue is learning to be good to myself – which is another blog post.

Back to the subject at hand, how can you get better at visualizing exactly what you want?

Vision Boards are a good way of keeping your eyes on the prize.  If you saw Oprah’s first show on The Secret, you might recall Lisa Nichols revealing her vision board on which she had pasted the words, “Lisa tells all on the Oprah Winfrey show.” 

I have several pictures of the house I will one day build, both inside and out, and the gardens surrounding it, on the bulletin board in my office.  I am very excited to be attending a retreat hosted by Christine Kane the second weekend in March where we are going to create vision boards.  Christine has a step-by-step process for doing this, so instead of recreating the wheel or pretending that I’m an expert at it, I’m simply going to link you to her post, How to Make a Vision Board.

If you are a private person, or do not have personal space available to display a vision board, you might prefer what Esther Hicks refers to in Ask and It Is Given as a “Magical Creation Box” where you place pictures of items or scenes into a special box and label it, “Whatever is contained in this box, IS.” 

“Spend as much of your leisure time as you can in contemplating your picture. . . . The methods set forth here are for people whose desire for riches is strong enough to overcome mental laziness and the love of ease, and to make them work.  ”

Have you ever noticed, really noticed, that when you read biographies of successful people, it is always mentioned how little time they spend watching television?  I remember reading somewhere that Bill Gates, in his earlier career years, spent his spare time reading Success and Money magazines.  In other words, he didn’t come home at 5, plop down on the couch and watch television until midnight.  He worked long hours by himself, with his business partner, and eventually with his development team, then spent time “sharpening the saw.”  Bill Gates is definitely “Thinking in The Certain Way.”  Interesting, isn’t it?

Wattles also tells us that it is imperative that we have unwavering faith that what we are asking for is on its way to us.  Ask once, there is no need to tell God about our desires every day.  You can clarify what you want as often as you like.  When you’re focusing and thinking about your clear, definite aims, further the process by describing each and every detail, until you get it just the way you want it, and then visualize your taking possession of whatever it is you desire.  “See the things you want as if they were actually around you all the time,”  says Wattles.

Most importantly, remember to be thankful – even for the things yet to come.  If you’re visualizing the way Wattles wants you to, you will feel as if these things are happening and in your possession now.  So be grateful for them.  Here’s how he explains it.

“The person who can sincerely thank God for the things which as yet he owns only in imagination has real faith.  He will get rich.”

Ask once, clarify often, and be grateful.

So then, to summarize step number 4 in the getting rich process:  Set clear, definite goals, and focus on them.  If you don’t pay attention to where you’re going, you could end up far from your desired path.

Posted under Education, Inspiration, Leadership, Motivation