Junk New Year's Resolutions, Create a Vision Board Instead

Vision board from StevePavlina.com forum

Say goodbye to this year and to new year's resolutions too.  Admit it, they just don't work.  New year's resolutions appear to be just our "wish lists" without defining realistic goals to achieve them.  It lacks planning and oftentimes, they're all about what we want others to see in us (or not to see) next year. Give it few weeks or a month after the new  year, it'll be gone.

A typo-graphical vision board from Following Your Joy Blog

Create a vision board instead. A vision board is a poster where you paste cutouts from magazines about ideas and things you want to achieve - dream job, good health, nice car, huge house, a person you want to meet, places you want to go, things you basically want to do, etc. It's a collage. Put it up on your wall where you can always see it - preferably somewhere really visible whenever you wake up. That will always remind you of who you want to become, what you want to achieve,where you want to go... and those thoughts will help you change your life, your actions and your mindset to match those that you've put in the collage.

Don't cram because the year is about to end. To do your vision board correctly, you need to spend some time with yourself. Play a soft music or instrumentals on the background, sit quietly and focus.  Open your mind. Ask yourself, what is it that you really really want.  Don't restrict yourself on your capability to achieve things. Just keep them coming and stay with those thoughts for some time. Slowly, pictures will start to come to you.

When you're done... go ahead and create your vision board. Here are some tips:

• Browse magazines to find all the pictures and headlines you've visualize for you and your future. Cut them off but don't paste them right away on the board
• Review the images. Select your favorites and eliminate those of less importance and less relevance. At this point, your mind must be thinking creatively on how to lay them in the board. There are no rules - you will set the rules in fact. You may divide the board and group related things accordingly. You may also want to create a priority flow. Or, you may simply put in things in random. Be creative
• You may add labels - or time lines if you want. For example, write September 2012 under the photo of a luxury cruise ship because you want to get in a cruise on of before September 2012.  You  may also want to put photos of people you want to involve in your vision
• You can add a photo of yourself and put it in the center. It will remind you how you wanted to be circled with just the things within your vision, and remain in that path.
• Before you hang your vision board, let it set upon you.  Feel it. Set your mind - your actions will be patterned on achieving each and everything on the board.  Law of attraction works.

Extra 24 hours of possibility and opportunity

McCollins Media did a great job with their New Year Email Greeting Card. The minimal copy is just powerful and motivating,

"365 days + 1: 2012 is a leap year. That means there's one extra day... That's an extra 24 hours of possibility and opportunity."

Third Time's A Charm: My Shot at Emirates via LinkedIn

Emirates is one of the companies in Dubai on every job seekers wishlist. 'Third' becomes a good fortune for me. How I was able to get in...

How LinkedIn played a vital role?

Back in January 2010, somebody from the e-Commerce team contacted me via LinkedIn for a possible e-Commerce designer/developer stint at Emirates. Everything went very well. I got 'hired.'  In fact, to my excitement, I severely injured my toe nail as I stamped with joy upon learning the good news. I've done most of the required protocols, authentications, police clearance, etc. Then I signed the contract.  Come February - a week before I'm supposed to start my work, I got a call that the employment won't pursue. The reason, Emirates was 'actually' cutting employment that time; haven't started yet, I was already redundant. It was an executive-level decision. Hurts much. How about my toe injury? :-)

Three months later, I received another invitation via LinkedIn again. This time from the manager of the UI Team of Emirates, asking me to a meeting for a possible job as UI Designer.  The meeting went really well. But they never got back to me for awhile.

Another great offer came from a small yet growing web design company. Thinking that Emirates won't get back, I grabbed the opportunity. Almost 2 months after, I got a call inviting me to undergo the formal hiring process for Emirates. With honor to my commitment with my new employer, I declined with a heavy heart.  It was puzzling why I declined.

Fast forward 11 months after, I received a message in LinkedIn from the same manager taking chance if I'd like another shot at an opportunity with Emirates.  We had a meeting - introduced me to the department manager - and everything went well.  I got offered.  Haunted by my past experiences, I'm a bit reluctant this time. I'm having a great experience with the small web design company already. I love what I'm doing. What if in the end, it goes off again? This is what's boggling me. In the end, I accepted the offer and resigned from my job.

Today is my 2nd month in Emirates. I'm working as a Senior UI / UX Designer at Emirates Group IT. What a way to get in... I will always be thankful to the manager who contacted me, and to LinkedIn for the connection. It's a bit challenging, but I love challenges - it helps me bring out the best in me.

Tips to enhance your visibility in LinkedIn

If you are on LinkedIn, make the most of it:

1. Make your profile marketable. Enhance it with the best keywords for your career.
2. Add your portfolios and links to your works
3. Update your CV
4. Get recommended, and recommend others as well
5. Join discussions and professionals group

Don't hate it for it is boring. It can be your best tool towards your dream job.

Fiction Coming Into Reality

Yeah, Japan has long been doing robotics and they're genius at it we all know. But, wow! This one so far, from the looks of it, is the closest resemblance to human (well at least in this video). The Fiction-Coming-Into-Reality seems so near huh...

Delivery and Run

At Wild Ginger this afternoon, after ordering a takeout meal, the attendant saw my Emirates Staff ID. She asked if I knew about Ticketing. She wanted to find out if she can still be allowed to travel on her 8th month pregnancy, because normally airlines allow pregnant women of up to 7 months only.

She prefers to travel on her 8th month in order to maximize her 60-day maternity leave in the Philippines.

Can you imagine? She's going back home only to deliver her baby and would need to return here in Dubai for 'work'.  I will be a parent soon and I just can't imagine myself allowing that situation to happen - how much more for a would-be mother.