"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution."
--- Albert Einstein
The Christmas season is typically a time of hope and renewal when not just children dream and are affected by the songs, glittering lights, and entertainment of the season. For some of us, it is also a signal that our business calendar year is almost up and the time for setting goals for a new year is fast approaching.
Though now is the time to enjoy the season, there is no reason to stop our imagination from wondering to the land of new opportunities.
"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination."
--- Oscar Wilde
In every business there is a period of growth followed by periods of stagnation, followed by growth, and so on. Those times without tremendous growth can cause even the seasoned businessperson to doubt and consider throwing in the towel. But it is exactly during those times that you must practice using your imagination like a child.
As difficult as it can be, allowing your mind to wander and dream again is how breakthrough business ideas originate.
"We must have a theme, a goal, a purpose in our lives. If you don't know where you're aiming, you don't have a goal. My goal is to live my life in such a way that when I die, someone can say, she cared."
--- Mary Kay Ash
According to Zig Ziglar and Brian Tracy, one of the best ways to allow your mind to dream is to put your business goals on paper. Doing so opens up your mind to possibilities that then create more possibilities, leading to even more. The exercise of putting goals in writing with allowing even the silliest of them to land on paper has helped to create millionaires with million-dollar businesses.
"Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Thoughts are things! And powerful things at that, when mixed with definiteness of purpose, and burning desire, can be translated into riches."
--- Napoleon Hill
If you can, take the last few days of this year to give your mind permission to dream. Put those dreams and goals on paper. Then, prioritize your goals and list three bullet points of how you will achieve those particular goals in 2009. Be specific and remember to jot down all of what your imagination is dreaming up.
"The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them. Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to fulfilling your dreams."
--- Og Mandino
The more you practice using your imagination to generate goals, the easier it becomes. The same is true with putting your goals to paper. Some goal-setting experts suggest yearly goals, while others say that you should put goals to paper monthly, weekly and even daily. Either way, the more you list your goals the easier it becomes and the closer you get to achieving them.
Remember to let your imagination go wild to create wild, outrageous goals!
"The real source of wealth and capital in this new era is not material things...it is the human mind, the human spirit, the human imagination, and our faith in the future."
--- Steve Forbes
