Inspired By Who You Meet - In Person & Through Social Media

YOU INSPIRE THE WORLD!
This week I did two book signings & a couple of workshops to show people how to draw your dreams into reality and promote my new book Drawing Solutions:  How Visual Goal Setting Will Change Your LIfe.  I was completely inspired by who I met and the stories they told.  Here are a few of them:

You are resilient and committed to self-actualization despite the odds.

At 3rd Place Books in Lake Forest Park north of Seattle, I heard an amazing story.  One of my participants recalled an employee meeting at her job where the boss showed them Maslow's chart of hierarchy of needs.  He said "With this job you will never become self-actualized.  You will only meet your most basic needs.  You will be able to pay your bills and buy a new refrigerator if you need one.  And that is it.  If you want to become self-actualized, leave now.  We are never going to do anything to make this job any better!"  This woman said she stuck it out for many years, while growing more and more miserable.  


She realized she needed to build her strength and courage, accept that she was going to have to create a change. Then, she watched the Draw Your Future TEDxRainier video and shortly thereafter heard a Billy Joel song playing in the store where she worked, "This job is going to give you a heartattack-ack-ack-ack..."  and she said, something snapped.  She went right into her boss's office and quit.  Now she is off on a big adventure - first traveling, then setting up the business she's always dreamed about and despite not having it all buttoned up, she's never been more excited.


You pursue your dreams.

Emily didn't even see the talk or the video, but when her mother showed her this template, something clicked!  Now she is running her own Vision to Reality groups on Orcas Island.

You want to make a difference.

Diego saw the video on YouTube and he contacted me through social media.  He and his team are helping to lift kids out of poverty by teaching them innovation and creativity skills in some of the poorest schools where he lives in Chile.  He contacted me because he was using Alex Osterwalders' business model innovation.  He is teaching young people how to become micro-entrepreneurs and he wanted to add our Snapshot of the Big Picture process to his toolkit.  Would I let them use it?Absolutely.  Like Diego, I am committed to offering tools to everyone, everywhere.

You inspire all of us to dream big dreams and work hard to make them happen.

Aaron is a fantastic cartoonist who came to my workshop at the San Juan Island library.  He is working hard on his vision and building his team, despite the health issues he has to deal with everyday.  He's also got great support, his very cool brother.

I know you have big dreams.  Draw them and send them to me so I can share them with the world.  Every one of us matters.  Your dreams elevate the rest of us.  Thank you for being here.

Love,

Patti

Are You Using a Picture to Make Your Goals Real?

This week I heard from a gentleman who had taken a mind mapping workshop with Tony Buzan.  During the workshop he created this amazing mind map of what he wanted his life to be like.  The things he wrote and drew in this image are now the reality of his life today:

Here's Thum's story:
"My Future was drawn  21st April 2006 when I attended a workshop by Tony Buzan. He taught me Mind Map and it changed my future from a desk bound in-house legal counsel in a bank to become a licensed instructor sharing his vision of global mental literacy.

I have been sharing my drawings on facebook and with other people.  It changed their mind-sets and I am seeing more acceptance in Singapore where I live and work.  Recently, facebook has brought me to other countries i.e. Indonesia, Bulgaria, India, Thailand, Middle East, etc.  I am a regular contributor to Mind Map Art and was featured in a Singapore private University Magazine: 

Mind Map Art:   http://www.mindmapart.com/galleries/thum-cheng-cheong/
University Magazine:  http://tlc.unisim.edu.sg/publications/communitas/201201/

You can turn your dreams into reality using a simple picture too.  #meanit  #believeit

The best thing is, you don't even need to know how to draw!

Join us Monday, March 26th, 9AM PST or 5PM PST on our Google+ hangouts!

Cool 2012 Visions

Here are just some of the images that have filled my email box or twitter sphere since the book and the TEDxRainier video, Drawing Your Dreams Into Reality came out 3 days ago.

These images are a testament that you don't have to know how to draw to turn your dreams into reality.  These people are doing it and you can too, even if you are drawing it in your garden's soil.

Go to this page to download your template (at very bottom of page) and let's get you started as well.

What dreams do you have?  Draw a picture of them and send it to me!

Getting & Staying Focused in 2012

Goal setting and goal achievement are two separate things. One requires that you take time to think about what you want.  The other only occurs when you remain focused on your goals and take action on them to help them manifest.

Your brain is bombarded with millions of bits of data in every second.  So how can you keep focused on your goals?  Draw a picture of them, place that picture somewhere you can see it everyday.  Then take action on those goals.  In my book, Drawing Solutions How Visual Goal Setting Will Change Your LIfe I outline a very simple process for goal setting that includes creating a visual map of where you are, where you want to go and identifying the 3 bold steps to get you there.

Here is Ted's 2012 map he created using my process:

You can see this picture has both words and images in it.  That activates both sides of your brain and also highlights this Desired New Reality so Ted's brain will be alerted to get and stay focused on his goals.

You don't have to be an artist to draw your dreams into reality.  Ted has been using this process since I first did a map for him 5 years ago. Every year he gets more of what he wants.

If Ted can have success using a simple drawing, so can you.

Send me your map so I can post your story too!  Happy new year and may you turn all your dreams into reality.

Drawing Solutions Success Stories

Recently I asked Lola Michelin whether she had any stories to share about her success with the "big picture" map we created in her office a couple of years ago.  She's since moved her office to a beautiful new location on Vashon Island.  Here's what she wrote back:

"What stunned me was that I was talking about you to a friend here and I said how we did the “Big Picture” illustration with you that hung in our office for a year.  I pulled it out to show her and the barn that you drew in one corner to represent our virtual and resident campus is identical to the barn that is on the new property…gave me shivers!  The power of visualization in terms of manifestation is too amazing!"


Don't you want to turn your dreams into reality?  You can when you draw a simple picture of what you want and pack it with all of the feelings you imagine you'll have when that dream is real.  Act as if it is occurring right now.

Find out more in my new book Drawing Solutions How Visual Goal Setting Will Change Your Life at Amazon now.  You can live your life to the fullest right now, it's easier than you think. 


I can't wait to hear the stories from your experiences.  Share them!

Holding the Visual Until Life Links You Up

More and more I am seeing the value of the visual.  Whether you dream it, you watch it, you imagine or you draw it, what you see in your mind and in your world becomes your reality.

I'm not making this up, your brain is.  That's right, your brain sees in two dimensions because of the optic nerve, but we live in a three dimensional world.  What does your brain do to compensate?  It makes it up.  It's fact that part of what you see is fiction.

Why not leverage that piece of brain science to your advantage?  Next time you want to be someone or somewhere else in your life, make it up using that innate tool of creative genius -  your imagination.  Envision it thoroughly as if you are right there, right now looking out through your own eyes experiencing it.  Make  it vivid.  Paint it with emotion. Lock it into memory.

Then do EVERYTHING you can to take action towards that vision to make it real.  Dream it everyday and be grateful for every small or large movement in that direction. Celebrate that movement.

Surprise yourself at how quickly your inner and outer imaginings can become reality.
Not through hocus pocus but through leveraging your own brain.  Curious?  Don't take my word for it.  Experiment on your own.

Hold that visual until life links you to it.

Remodeling Yourself & Your Life

This spring we broke down and remodeled the kitchen. Wow. It's almost summer and still going on.  They tore out the walls, redid the plumbing, electrical, hvac...you get the picture.  Both of us vacillated between excitement and pure exasperation.   The walls were replaced with two big beams.  In desperation one day, I wrote on them in a fat felt tip sharpie:  LOVE.  TRUST.  ABUNDANCE.  GRATITUDE.

I wanted to make sure that whatever I put on those walls would stay imprinted in the house as a reflection of the values that matter to us.

One day they discovered that the floor didn't match between rooms.  They said for $1400 they could match the floor.  It would be cost more for the demolition. I volunteered to take it out to save some cash.  The contractor gave me this big huge and very heavy crowbar and said, "I brought you a tool to help."  "Uh, thanks,"  I muttered.

I could barely pick it up but once I got the hang of it, 45 minutes later it was done - floor gone - check!  Who knew the remodel would take us down to our sub-floor?

While it's going on, you can imagine, I have my own "remodel" happening.  Change is good and I love it and abhor it at times.  But once again I am using this time to up my creative genius.  I imagine myself getting a "self-lift" - focusing on building a more physically fit body through workouts and diet.   Balancing my mental self so I'm slightly more resilient and solid in my contemplation/meditation practice to stay tuned in.  Even my work life has a new roadmap as we finish up the edits of the book and projects wind down and new ones start up.

And interestingly enough, the garden is flourishing.  Well why not?  We can't really stay inside since our main floor is inaccessible, so weeding is a delightful distraction.

If you are looking to remodel any part of you, here's a few great books I found tips in that might help you getting your own self lift:

Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki
Younger Next Year by Chris Crowley & Henry S. Lodge, MD
Mojo:  How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get It Back If You Lose It by Marshall Goldsmith

I am also happy to create a personal map for you so you have a clear vision and plan.

Happy Summer Here It Comes!
Best to you,
Patti